Birth is one of the most testing and, often, traumatic times in a woman’s life. This is why we will happily take any and all advice going, to make the process run that little bit smoother.
We’re accordingly intrigued by new research being reported upon in the world-famous BMJ medical journal.
Experts believe that, for first-time mums with a low dose of epidural, lying down during the later stages of labour could give them a higher chance of delivering their baby without any medical intervention. This is as opposed to sitting upright during the process.
The findings were made by a team from the University of Birmingham in conjunction with the Epidural and Position Trial Collaborative Group.
The BUMPES trial, as it was named, involved a randomised and controlled trial involving more than 3,000 women. These women all gave birth between October 2010 and January 2014, in hospitals across Britain.
The aim of the BUMPES study was to investigate whether adopting an upright position in the second stage of labour – when the cervix is fully dilated – would lead to an increase in the number of first-time mums who had a spontaneous vaginal birth.
Here, the women were all first-time mums, and had a low-dose epidural. By ‘spontaneous’ birth, they are referring to a birth minus forceps or suction instruments.
For the experiment, the team randomly placed the first-time mums into the upright or lying down positions, then analysed how the birth process played out.
The results were fascinating; the researchers found that there were fewer spontaneous vaginal births among women in the upright group, with a difference of almost 6 percent compared to the women lying down.
Professor Peter Brocklehurst, a key member of the research team, explained the findings.
“The evidence we have found from this large trial group provides an easy and cost-free intervention in our labour wards,” he wrote, in the study report.
“Pregnant women, in consultation with their healthcare providers, can now make informed choices about their position in the second stage of labour.”
He qualified that the trial results apply only to ‘first-time mothers in the second stage of labour with low-dose epidural analgesia’.
“It is unclear what the findings may mean for women who have given birth before and are in labour with an epidural,” he added.
“However, given the clear benefit of the lying down position, perhaps all women who have an epidural should be offered the choice of adopting a lying down position in the second stage until we know otherwise.”
What has been your experience, mums?
