Ch.8/ Pushing techniques
There are two main techniques to pushing. At the end of the day, follow what feels best for you and your body.
At a hospital birth, I see the same style of pushing being taught again and again. Doctors call it coached pushing but doulas call this technique “purple pushing”. This is most often taught to people who have epidurals because it can be harder to feel the urge to push with an epidural. If you don’t have an epidural, it can be pretty hard to miss this urge.
So what is purple pushing?
Your OB and nurse will tell you when to start. They’ll be watching the TOCO (monitor that’s tracking contractions) to see when you’re having a contraction. Some people can feel it building so they’ll just tell us when they feel it coming on. Once the contraction builds, you’ll take a deep breath like you’re going underwater and hold it. You’ll put your chin to your chest and curl over your stomach. Then you push and bear down as hard as you can for ten seconds. The nurse will be counting down from ten so you know when to stop. After ten seconds, you’ll take a deep breath and go right back in, starting at ten again. You do this three times per contraction.
This method is effective, meaning I’ve seen people have their baby vaginally using this method, but it is a very specific energy. Usually, the nurse or OB is loudly counting down and telling you to push harder and stronger. People sometimes burst blood vessels in their eyes and face doing this method since it’s so intense. Some people like this method because it can be very inspiring to have people strongly cheering you on. I don’t think this method is for everyone, though.
An alternative is J breathing.
Using a J breath is where you wait for the contraction to build and then take a deep breath, just like in purple pushing. The difference is that you take that breath and then slowly push the air down through your body and out of your vagina. Now obviously, you are not breathing out of your vagina. But it’s a visual trick to create that mind body connection of focusing your energy down and out.
This method creates a very different atmosphere than purple pushing. I’ve seen a person very calmly and slowly breathe their baby out using this method. The room was quiet and reverent while she moved her baby lower following her own instincts and more subtly guiding her baby out. And this was a hospital birth and she had an epidural! So this is accessible in a lot of different scenarios.
There are not a lot of hospital providers that will suggest J breathing over purple pushing (at least I haven’t met any!), but if this method interests you, it may be worth advocating for. And you could always try it for a few rounds of contractions and switch to purple pushing. Trying new things during pushing is often helpful in assisting baby through that last little bit.
Or just do what you feel! Your body was made to do this – trust it.
