Pushing and birth

Research on the second stage of labor looks at pushing, how it is guided, and how long it lasts. Reviews describe the second stage and offer evidence-based labor management of this phase. A systematic review covers pushing or bearing down methods, and a French-language review updates the management of expulsive efforts during childbirth.

Other papers ask about duration. A systematic review and meta-analysis evaluates how second-stage and pushing duration relate to maternal and neonatal outcomes. A qualitative analysis within a trial gives voice to women experiencing the second stage for the first time, and a trial protocol describes a study using real-time ultrasound to educate pushing. Reference entries on vaginal delivery, normal labor and multiple birth delivery give background.

Parents often ask when they will push, how it will feel, and how long it might take. An educator may want slides that describe the methods researchers have compared, along with parents' own accounts of this stage. The papers below are the ones the Hub tracks on this topic.