Experiences with Premature Birth & Pushing During Labor

Question
im just curious..i had a diffrent dr for my first pregnancy.my daughter was born at 36 1/2 weeks.my son at 35 weeks 6 days.both because of PROM.
with my daughter i was in labor for 12 hours and after puching maybe 1/2 hour he took her out with forceps saying b/c she was premature.
my 2nd delivery with a diffrent dr had me push her out naturally after a induction(after we realized about the leaking fluid) and i was in labor about 5 hours but pushed 1 1/2 hours before he got out but used no assistance.

just curious what your opionon is of why possibly the two dr's use such diffrent protocaol..


thanks
pam

Answer
I cannot comment on what occurred during your two deliveries because I do not know exactly what prompted the doctor to manage the labors as they did.  You say that you were in labor for 12 hours. HOwever, were you having contractions as the level of the belly button, every 3 minutes (from the beginning of one contraction to the beginning of the next contraction) and each contraction lasted 1minute? That is the definition of labor. If you broke your water, we usually will only allow you to wait 12 hours before we start an induction. If you are having contractions after PROM, we would either try a vacuum or forceps delivery after 12 hours, or perform a cesarean section, in order to avoid infection of the uterus. We usually will allow a patient to push for 2 hours (for her first baby) and 1 hour (for any subsequent pregnancies). The indications for forceps delivery are many, and the baby may have been and your first baby may have fulfilled the criterion for a forceps delivery, or your doctor may have thought that the baby was not going to come out without help from forceps.