Urge to push

When dilation is well advanced, your baby's head will sink further into your pelvis. The head then presses on your rectum from the inside, which can give you the feeling that you have to go to the toilet. This is the beginning of the period of contractions. These contractions are more powerful than the dilation contractions.

If you get pushing contractions, you are often around 8-9 centimeters dilated or perhaps already fully dilated (10 centimeters). You need these powerful contractions to push your child out through the birth canal.

Reflective pressing urge

During the contraction you have the feeling that you can no longer sigh it away, your abdominal muscles contract as a reflex and you have the feeling that you cannot help but push along. If the dilation is indeed complete, then this is the ideal time to start pushing (expulsion).

With a first child, pushing takes an hour on average, but it can also take 2 hours. The road must be cleared for the first time. When pushing the next child, it often goes a lot faster, an average of 15 to 30 minutes.