Although fetal monitoring may confine you to bed, lying on your back for delivery can have many disadvantages:
- you have to work harder pushing the baby uphill;
- pain may be greater in this position than in a vertical one;
- the tissues of the birth canal may be slow to open and be stimulated by the descending baby, thus possibly prolonging labour;
- there is a greater need for an episiotomy;
- there may be an increased chance of a forceps delivery;
- it inhibits spontaneous delivery of the placenta;
- there is a greater possibility of lower back strain.
Slow Deliveries
What is considered to be the normal length of labor varies from hospital to hospital— and it is the marrying of what is right for you with what is normal for the hospital that causes problems. Procedures that are more likely to be used when the medical staff wishes to hurry you include:
Tags: baby uphill, episiotomy, lower back strain, membranes, Placenta, prolonging labour, unkindest cut
