urge to push?

i had an epidural for about 8-10 hours with first labour so i never felt the urge to push which i was disappointed about. with my second labour i had an epidural about 10-15mins before i was at the pushing stage (went faster than everyone expected). i think i felt the urge to push but i dont know whether it was wishful thinking or not really it becuase i only felt it the once. to me it felt like when your abdomen goes a bit rigid and tenses up and then involuntarily sorta spasms when you vomit except it was a downward feeling rather than an upward feeeling. do you think that is it? what did it feel like for you?>

i just remember that the urge was uncontrollable! my body just did what it needed to do, i cant remember anything about my abdomon been rigid, probably because i was too focused on further down :lol: but i guess your right, feels like when you tense up to use your bowel but much stronger

well excuse the way i explain it lol
it felt like the baby wanted to push out of my bum :redface: and i freaked out and tried to hold back lol after about 3 contrax i called the midwife and she said it was time to push basically a lot of pressure downwards

From what I can remember I was the same as AJP. As soon as I got the urge my body took over and I just went along for the ride. It was so surreal as I was laying on my left hand side and I would instinctively lift up my upper leg and just push. It was like I was on auto pilot and my body just did it all - so amazing.
Guess my memory will be alot fresher in the next few days (I'm 41 weeks pg) so I'll pop back on and let you know.

Yep thats how I would describe it also lol.

if i hadnt of had the epi would i have felt it over and over again with each contraction? its wierd cause i only felt that the one time.

i didnt have an urge with #1 - i was told when to push with the contractions (posterior contractions).

With #2 - homebirth - i felt the urge - like ii had to do a huge poo. :P

hmm, if everyone felt like pooing then i dont know what the heck it was that i felt then LOL!! :-)

For me, the tummy tensing etc happened when I tried to resist the urge to push.

I clearly remembered saying after my DD was born that I definitely studied the wrong things in my anatomy class. Everyone told me that babies came out the vagina but they lied - they come out your bum!!! My OB and midwife just laughed at me. Lucky I worked with them or they probably would have got a mouthful!!!

I remember the midwife asking why i didn't want to push, and me responding "because i'll poo!!! I DON"T WANT TO POO!!!" hahahaha

But you're right, once you start... its like autopilot, your body knows what its doing and just goes for it - crazy!

Nope i didnt feel anything in my bottom with any of my births. The pushing felt GREAT as that was when all the uncomfortable feeling left. It just felt like "bring it on". With my first i just started grunting and pushing.... I didnt even know i was until someone said to someone else "look shes pushing" :)

I think i get what you mean Hollo. it sounds pretty similar to the point where it goes from transition into pushing. i too had the most intense tightness across my belly (almost as if DD saw the tunnel and tried to claw back up LOL!). this was coupled with a shift in the way the contraction hurt...so it shifted from just being cervix pain to moving away and being more general around the whole pelvic region.

About 2 contractions on top of eachother of this the real full-blown 'oh dear, i think my bott bott is about to explode' urge came over me and the only relief i got from it was to bear down and start pushing.

Hollo, that is EXACTLY how I described the feeling to my hubby so yes I would say it's like the urge to vomit only about a million times more intense. It takes over your body so strongly that there isn't much you can do to stop it, although I had to try with my first labour (posterior!). The vomit analogy was the only way that I could think to describe the urge to push to someone who hasn't experienced it.

NikW YAY!!! i'm not a freak! :-) good to know i'm not the only one to feel it that way LOL!

Ohhhh I'm so jealous. I never had the urge to push. First time with DS I had an epi so couldn't feel anything and I was so intrigued the second time around about the urge to push...I started a thread on it.

I had a completely natural labour but the urge to push never came. The midwife told me I "sounded a bit pushy" and I told her I just felt constipated lol and she told me that was the baby coming and I said no I had ages yet. She wanted to know how I knew and I said I didn't feel like pushing at all.

But after a couple of minutes of this they made me get up on the bed and start pushing and it felt so unnatural. They kept saying to me "we know you don't believe us but your baby is coming" and sure enough she was in my arms less than 15 minutes later. I hated that part of the labour because I had been expecting that my body would know what to do and it didn't...it just felt wrong.

The ob said that his wife didn't have the urge to push either - they had 5 kids - so I was glad to know that I wasn't the only one.

Definitely felt the poo urge with the first. But yeah - its not something that is easy to control at all. I never want to hear "There is still a lip, try to not push" ever again.

YOU TRY NOT PUSHING!

Poo urge here too. I could have sworn the baby was coming out of my butt. The pushing stage was SUCH a relief tho. It felt so good to push. Much better than 1st stage of labour!

Funny thing tho... with DD when I said I feel like I'm pooing... the OB said "yes, well, there's a bit of that too" PMSL. Poor guy.. think I wee'd & poo'd during that labour! LOL sorry... probably TMI. Delightful process this whole birthing thing is! hahaha.

I felt the urge to push but I didn't know that's what I was feeling. I thought I needed to poo & didn't want to on the bed. I felt that way for ages & the middy kept asking me "do you feel the urge to push" & I kept saying "no" cos I thought I'd feel pressure in the vag region & my pressure was fully in the rear end.

Eventually she said "are you sure you don't feel the need to push? If you feel like you need to do a huge poo you are ready to push". This huge relief swelled over me and I said "yes I'm ready to push". I then spent the next 2 hours pushing. In all my research on pregnancy & birth I somehow skipped the bit about the need to push could feel like a poo!!!!!

I never had the urge to push with either of my births. I only pushed because I was fully dilated, baby's head right there and was told to ! Both my pushing experiences were fast, but I didn't get an urge nor did pushing give any relief - it was just a means to an end really. Both labours completely drug free too.

haha funny you say that my mum described it as needing to vomit but at the other end!

With DD I was in the room on my own as the midwifes told me I had ages to go - I went to the toilet as like many of you I had a desire to use the toilet!! Then I pushed a bit harder than thought and blood went everywhere. I called the midwife and they said "you're not ready honey", so I stood by the nurses station and flooded the floor. I don't think the nurses had moved so quick all night - hee hee. DD arrived 15mins later!!

When the urge came I had no control and whatever came out was coming out.
Tess.