Women in labor should not wait to push, says new study

Giving birth for the first time is pretty scary, it's one of the many reasons we rely on our doctors and their extensive knowledge. However, it turns out that a popular perspective on deliveries for the first time may not be as useful as previously thought: a new study found that women in labor should not wait to push once they are fully dilated, although many obstetricians recommend practice.

According to NPR, the idea was that a wait of about an hour after complete dilatation could result in easier and less complicated delivery for new mothers. To test this theory, the research team, led by Dr. OB Alison G. Cahill of Washington University in St. Louis, studied the births of 2,414 women who had given birth in the United States. one of six pre-qualified medical centers in the United States. All women were admitted at least 37 weeks pregnant, either because they were already working or because they were about to be induced, and they all received an epidural. To see if the wait was really helpful, half of the women had been instructed to start pushing as soon as they were fully dilated, while the other half had been instructed to do so. wait an hour before starting to push.

The result? It turns out that women in both groups had a similar chance of delivering vaginally – about 86%. This means that delaying relapses does not actually reduce the likelihood that mothers who have given birth for the first time need a cesarean section, although it actually seems that delaying relapses may be more dangerous. On the one hand, an immediate surge reduced the risk of chorioamnionitis, a bacterial infection that causes inflammation of the fetal membranes and can lead to prolonged labor. Women who were growing right away also had a lower risk of postpartum hemorrhage: 2.3% of women who grew immediately had excessive bleeding, compared to 4% of women who were waiting.

These discoveries are perhaps the most important discovery of the study, since they can actually put life at risk. But even in the absence of serious complications, there does not seem to be any benefit in delaying a surge. On the one hand, women who immediately pushed on average had a second, shorter delivery stage: they gave birth about half an hour earlier than those in the delayed group, although they spent about nine minutes more putting pressure.

Since delaying the push does not really seem to reduce the likelihood of a cesarean section, the study suggests that it is useless to ask women to wait. Add to that that there could be a higher risk of complications, as well as a longer childbirth, and that the benefits of an immediate surge seem to be outweighing. And although a 30-minute difference between the duration of second-stage work and its impact on the results is not huge, it still matters: according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a second stage Extended working hours (more than three months) the number of hours worked for mothers who gave birth for the first time) may increase the need for a caesarean section – a major abdominal surgery with a higher risk than vaginal deliveries.

In other words, the results of the study suggest that if you are a first mom in childbirth, it is probably best to start pushing as soon as you reach 10 centimeters. Even though it's nice to think that waiting a little longer could make delivery easier and smoother, research suggests that most mothers will probably not benefit. And since some potentially very serious complications also seem to pose a higher risk, it seems quite wise to talk to your OB in advance about the need to push as early as possible.