Have you attended a long labor yet? By long, I mean, a birth requiring labor support for more than 24 hours. And really, 24 hours sounds lovely compared with some of the lengths I’ve attended.
I will do just about anything to prevent a long labor. But it has taken years to find ways to recognize the signs that a long birth is on the horizon and to keep the mom engaged in the follow-through.
Recognition:
In my experience, long births are tricksters. The waves are coming closer together. Mom is releasing adrenaline and the tell-tale signs of transition appear. She may even feel little urges to push at the peaks of the waves. The doula often thinks, “This is it!” and transports to the hospital or calls the midwife only to find out mom is 2cm. In a little while, the waves space out.
This repeat building toward transition and then puttering out is one sign of the long labor. At one birth I attended, the couple went to the hospital three times because of this pattern.
Another sign may be that the waves are short. Perhaps less than a minute long. While I have attended one or two births that were characterized by consistently short waves the entire labor, this pattern is unusual. Or perhaps, the waves are at first long and then later they last less than a minute.
The mom may complain of back pain.
The final sign is instinct. I have learned to pay close attention to flashes of memory or insight that come during birth. I remember once I arrived at a birth and when I greeted the mom, immediately a memory of a former student popped into my consciousness. I dismissed it. What followed? I was completely tricked by a birth that lasted over 50 hours. Guess what? The birth was almost identical to that former student from two years before. Was this some magical power? No, of course not. My instincts probably picked up on subtle clues prenatally when I felt baby’s position. Instinct is a powerful assistant. When we listen.
Reasons:
Most of the time, long labors happen because of baby’s position. The top two are:
Posterior–baby is facing mom’s belly.
Asynclitic–baby’s head is tilted toward her shoulder.
It may also be that baby is still high in the pelvis (not engaged), baby’s chin is not tucked, or baby’s hands are up.
Prevention:
Until recently, I tended to be a little bit tentative when encouraging techniques to reposition a baby. I didn’t want to ask the mom to do something that would increase her discomfort and I wanted to trust birth, all that jazz. A doula is meant to soothe and help with discomfort; not make things more intense! But an ounce of prevention…
There are many techniques in the doula playbook. They have names like:
- The Miles Circuit
- The Rotisserie
- The Abdominal Lift and Tuck
- Walcher’s Trochanter
- Rebozo
- Psoas Resolution
- Open Knee-Chest
Sometimes it is hit or miss to find the one manuever that works for this labor. Please remember to remain balanced during this process of elimination so that the birth team rotates rest and nourishment with the calisthenics.
Which brings me to:
I believe a long labor was avoided with one of my clients. I recognized the signs: waves varied from long and close together to short and spaced. Over the course of about 9 hours, I rotated rest, nourishment, techniques.
The techniques that I thought should work, didn’t.
I encouraged the couple to have some private time and I sat in my car thinking it through. I wrote down what I knew about this birth and what we had tried. When the couple was refreshed and rested, I decided to try the Pelvic Floor Release.
I don’t use this technique often.
After a nice bath and rest, I asked the mom to give it a try. With dad and I supporting her, she began. She completed three waves on her right side and then we switched to the left. Around the second wave on her left side, I heard the change. Her waves became powerful and long.
We followed the Pelvic Floor Release with the Rotisserie but I’m not sure it was necessary. Within an hour, we were on our way to the hospital where she 8cm!
Conclusion:
From now on, I will arrive at births with techniques a-flyin’. Perhaps I’ll carry a clipboard and wear a whistle.
No! These manuevers are still interventions. We should practice watchfulness and instinctual awareness. IF they are needed, we should keep our tone positive and tread oh-so-carefully into the birth space.
However, we should not be afraid to move from gentle support to a more firm encouragement. We’ve seen the result of a long labor and we want to avoid that if possible for our clients.
Inexplicable Ways 