Ring of Fire

The Ring of Fire, also called the Rim of Fire, occurs when the baby's head is coming out of the vaginal opening and does not recede (Crowning stage).  During this stage the perineal tissue is stretching the most. This stage is characterized by an intense burning sensation known as the ring of fire.

At this point women are anxious to keep pushing and "just get the baby out," but the best course of action would be to allow the tissue to stretch and expand slowly, in an attempt to prevent too much tearing.

Other methods of coping with the rim of fire are any type of perineum stretching during pregnancy, such as perineal massage or the EPI-NO.

Some women feel this with every birth and some have it at one birth but not another. Some women don’t feel it at all.  To be prepared, one can learn to relax through the stretching/pressure/burning of the moment by preparing with the above-noted methods.


Kathy at Woman to Woman Childbirth Education describes how it feels:

"Open your mouth as wide as you can and hold it. Now, put your fingers in the corners of your mouth and pull your mouth wider until you feel stretching or burning. Now, imagine that at your vaginal opening. That is similar to what you might feel when your baby is born."