How did you prevent tearing during pushing?

[HomeStyleMumma]

I think a lot of it has to do with positioning, both of the mother and baby. But also relaxing as much as possible and breathing baby out once they reach crowning as has already been mentioned.
In my experience my first birth has been the only one I've torn, technically was only a graze and only needed 2 stitches. But i don't believe I would have had any problem if I actually HADN'T listened to the mw lol.. not what she actually said to me but ds was crowning and I heard the trainee mw say would he be born soon, to which mw said 'oh no definitely not 45mins at least to go'... To which I decided 'hell no! I'm getting him outta here in the next push that'll show you!' Yup in hindsight pretty silly/funny but still. I was also on my back this birth.
Dd1 was tiny at 6wks early so I certainly tried to slow things and breath her out to make her entrance a little easier on her.
Dd2 (my biggest baby so far) was in a HUGE rush to come out! I did not push voluntarily with her but I did lay on my side to slow things down and actually literally held her head in place for a contraction and delivery to allow at least some time for stretching because i was determined.not to tear again... I didn't even get a graze at all and really think those techniques prevented that.
Ds2 was a truely wonderful birth. I birthed on my knees leaning on the bed, which was good for opening up the pelvis fully while also keeping pressure off the perineum. If I hadn't have had a newborn attached to my boob straight after I wouldn't have guessed I'd just given birth everything 'down there' felt completely normal.

ETA- cricket yes all fours is good but nope reclining is not, its actually pretty much hands down the worst position to birth in for lots of reasons (but very convenient for Dr/mw viewing), it compresses the pelvis making babies decent more awkward and puts pressure on perineum also. Having said that my first two were in this position and it is doable just if its possible to be another way its almost always going to be better