So, I keep reading and hearing that many women poop while pushing during labor. I know most women are not thrilled about this, but the thought bothers me enough to make me ask the question: Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening? To make me poop before going to the hospital or before I start pushing...I thought of stool softeners, but then I thought they might actually make me more likely to poop when pushing. Any ideas???
Re: Pooping while pushing
Even if you give yourself an enema (which I DON'T recommend b/c it can dehydrate you, etc), you will more than likely STILL poop. It just happens when the baby pushes down on your bowels as you are pushing the baby out.
Your digestive system usually shuts down while in labor, so that's another reason why more often than not, women poop during delivery.
Trevor Calvin 12.10.07 7:26pm 7lbs2.5oz 19.75in
Emerson Claire 07.07.11 11:34am 7lbs7oz 20.5 in
Matthew Kevin
7/31/83-7/20/11
Met 1/8/00
Engaged 4/21/06
Married 9/29/07
Two beautiful legacies: Noah Matthew (2 yrs) and Chloe Marcella (8 mos)
Day Three
Surprisingly it didn't happen to me during either birth. I thought maybe it happened with DD but my husband said no.
Either way, at that point you just won't care what happens. I promise. And even if you DO poop, you probably won't even notice. The OB will wipe it away and continue on like nothing happened. Trust me, they see MUCH worse!
You are going to poop no matter what but in the moment YOU WILL NOT CARE!
I had a water birth and I saw them scooping the poop out of the tub (they used a fish net, LOL) and I was thinking to myself "I must be pooping while I push, oh well GET THE G-D BABY OUT OF MY VAGINA).
Plus, since everyone does it the nurses are very adept at cleaning it up as it comes out- you will probably not even notice them doing it.
I oozed crap for hours. I didn't really care from an embarrassment stance, but the constant wiping really hurt. By that point I had some pretty nice hemorrhoids, so that contributed to the discomfort.
I am seriously considering the enema this time.
chillax my dear. You won't give a hoot when you're 10cm and crowning.
TRUST ME
I understand it is scary...I was worried about pooping, but not so much that I tried to prevent it. If you are worried about this....just wait till you see the rest of the substances that come out of your body.
hmmm - maybe you could ask for a c-section to avoid all of that.. Just kidding. Seriously I had a c section, but after 27 hours of labor and like 5 peoples hands up my cooch I could have cared less if I pooped on the table
Now did you know you fart uncontrollably when you get your epi?
Happy and Healthy 9 months
I pooped. I was pretty constipated the few days before I went into labor, but I did have a nice big poop on my own right as labor was starting so I thought I might avoid it. Nope.
I had a mirror so I could watch DS being born (which was totally amazing BTW), but I never actually saw any poop! The nurse was very very good and with every push she moved the paper pad and covered up my newest poop nugget and tossed them away every couple pushes.
And fwiw, DH says he didn't notice. And he was watching.
LOL