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3rd Trimester
mhazel1204
member
Sneaking food? Seriously?
mhazel1204
member
Ok, I previously read something on the "natural" board that kinda bugged me. Women were talking about sneaking food and drink during labor when the nurses aren't looking. They seem to be under the impression that the reason they are not allowed to eat is because nurses don't want to clean up vomit! What????
Sorry, but the reason you shouldn't eat is if you need an emergency c-section. So you won't choke to death on your own vomit under anesthesia! This is why you have to fast before every surgery involving general anesthesia. During our child birth classes at the hospital, which is given by L & D nurses, she told us to eat a small healthy meal before heading to the hospital so we weren't starving. And let us know that all we could eat during labor was ice chips and popsicles. She made it very clear this wasn't to "punish" us or make their job easier but you never know who may need an emergency c-section.
Am I wrong to think that these ladies are being ridiculous? And jeopardizing their own lives? Between incredibly strict birth plans and sincere hate for the medical community to me are losing sight of the most important aspect of birth, A HEALTHY MOTHER AND BABY!
Vent over.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Sneaking food? Seriously?
I'm sitting here at the hospital right now eating my ice chips while my DH just chowed down on a BEC biscuit.
My health and babies are definitely way more important than any food today.
I don't understand lying to your doctor in general. It may be hard to tell them stuff but they really are just trying to make you healthy. If you don't feel comfortable being honest with your doctor, get a new doctor!!
But yeah, sneaking food seems so petty. Eat later, honestly it will end eventually.
That is why I am going to a birth center. I want to eat and it's not against the rules there. I don't think I would "sneak" food at the hospital but I am pretty sure if I *did* eat they could just pump my stomach for the c/s if it's that much of an emergency. I wouldn't give in to a c/s unless one of us was in danger.
Honestly, the rules at the hospital for "just incase" are kind of silly. Plus, from what I have heard, you normally aren't hungry once you get to a certain point.
I might have to make dh eat in the bathroom, that would be torture! haha Good luck with your birth!
This. I'm birthing in a hospital, though. When we did the L&D tour, the guide said to eat a meal before you come to the hospital (if you can) and there would be food available during labor, but that most women don't want to eat once they reach a certain point.
Unable to even.
********************
You don't understand the appeal of Benedict Cumberbatch / think he's fug / don't know who he is? WATCH SHERLOCK. Until you do, your negative opinion of him will not be taken seriously.
I don't know, I am on the fence with this. I am in the camp of less medical intervention, and when I show up at the hospital a c-section is not even going to be something I contemplate. People have emergency surgery every single day with full stomachs, the hospital staff should know how to handle the situaion if it should arise. I have every intention of doing the bulk of my laboring at home and would even like to be close to transition before getting to the hospital.
When I had my daughter I was dying of thirst, not really hungry. I had just ate dinner before I went to the hospital and I am not a huge snacker. I had her at 3:21 am. I can tell you for sure I was ready for breakfast at that point and there was no food to be found. That sucked! If they are going to starve you during labor they should at least be prepared to feed you when you are done.
This is what I'm thinking, that food is the LAST thing I'm going to be worried about! And I would definitely eat something light and healthy during the early labor at home just to keep up my strength.
And I know every hospital or birthing center is going to have different rules, I would just hope women would do whatever they're supposed to and not take it upon themselves to do something they were specifically told not to. Their comments to me were more out of spite then anything else. Like I'll show them, I'm going to sneak my food. That just bugged me!
my read shelf:
What are the actual risks of aspiration in labor?
The actual incidence of aspiration during birth is 7 per 10 million births in cases accumulated between 1979 and 1990 in the United States. A study in which 11,814 women were allowed to eat and drink during labor reported no maternal damage or death occurring from aspiration. There have been no maternal mortalities due to aspiration in Australia since 1987 and only one death in the UK in the 1990?s despite a recent liberalization of oral intake policy.
I think that it is ridiculous to starve a laboring woman. This is when you need nourishment the most for the hard work that you are about to put in to bring your LO into this world. Keep in mind also that you are not eating so neither is BABY. would you starve your baby just because somebody says that there is a possibility that you may or may not need a c section? I wouldn't. The probability of you aspirating is even lower than what was mentioned above because when they came to the conclusion that a woman could aspirate it was when they still put you completely under anesthesia and you were not conscious. That I would understand but women in this day and age are completely awake for the majority of c sections unless there is something majorly wrong, so you can sit your head up and say you feel nauseous and a nurse can bring you a bin to throw up in. So do I think these women are risking their lives. NO, I don't I give them kudos for realizing how idiotic it is to go into labor for 12+ hours on an empty stomach. That's why the majority of women end up having to have a c section anyways, because they are so under nourished that they just can't go on anymore. I think eating and drinking should be allowed case by case. If you're not high risk for being put under complete anesthesia than for God's sake let the women EAT.
I see your point, I think I just see it as birth can be so unpredictable. I defintely don't want a c-section but realize that it is a possibility. I guess because this is my first I'm more on the side of better safe than sorry. I do plan on bringing food with us so what happened in your case, doesn't happen to me. I would be so pissed if there was no food available after fasting for so long!
The anti-medical sentiment among certain natural birth advocates is OUT OF CONTROL. Half the time the patients don't even talk to their doctors because they've been convinced by the internet or their doulas that the doctor is the enemy. My hospital tour they told us to pack granola bars and lollipops.
Compare to my lamaze instructor, who actually advised us to lie to our doctors about our condition. (And I'm sure if the lawsuits come in, the fact that they are LYING will somehow be held against the doctors as well -- NOT against the "doula" who insisted that the patients lie.)
My doctor doesn't have anything against unmedicated birth, but a lot of unmedicated birth advocates seem to have something against her. It's ridiculous -- it's like they can't have an opinion unless the other guys are "wrong."
THIS!! I took my childbirth prep class over the weekend which was given by a 'childbirth educator', who also happened to be a doula. I almost walked out on a few occasions b/c I was getting so tired of her 'anti-medical' remarks she kept dishing out between the 'facts'. She too told us to 'sneak' food into the hospital and eat whenever the nurses weren't looking, etc, among other things. It was clear she was against all medical intervention which is FINE if you choose to go that way, but for those of us that hadn't, which was everyone in the room, it was a little unnerving to hear someone dog out your doctor and hospital at every chance she gets. Ugh, left a bad taste in my mouth, DH too...
Wow, so women are being told to do this? Yikes! I know there's a lot of differences among doctors, midwives and doulas, etc but for someone to suggest going against hospital policy is pretty lame I couldn't trust someone like that, who knows what else they would do or suggest that isn't in my best interest!
Ditto all of this. I am totally bringing food, but don't necessarily plan on lying to anyone about it, least of all my MWs. I had a fast labor, water broke at 4am @ home, arrived at the hospital around 7 or 8 in the morning, DS was born at 1pm, and I didn't get into my room till like 10 at night. Guess what? That whole time, NO FOOD! then when I did get to my room, the cafeteria was closed. That was it. Wait till breakfast. I could have killed someone. It would have been torture even if I hadn't just pushed out a 10 lb 6 oz baby with no drugs, but under the circumstances it was INHUMANE!
So if you walk into a hospital off of the street after having a heart attack and have to be rushed in for surgery, will they refuse the surgery because you may have just mowed down on McDonald's?
A vast majority of women who have to have c/s have them done with epidurals and spinals. The percentage that have to be put out are minimal and even amongst them, the risk of aspirating is minimal.
This exactly.
yes, you're wrong.
" Fasting during labor is a tradition that continues with no evidence of improved outcomes for mother or newborn. Many facilities (especially birth centers) do not restrict eating and drinking. Across the United States, most hospitals restrict intake, usually to ice chips and sips of clear liquids. Anesthesia studies have focused on gastric emptying, measured by various techniques, presuming that delayed gastric emptying predisposes women to aspiration. Narcotic analgesia delays gastric emptying, but results are conflicting on the effect of normal labor and of epidural anesthesia on gastric emptying. The effect of fasting in labor on the fetus and newborn and on the course of labor has not been studied adequately. Only one study evaluated the probable risk of maternal aspiration mortality, which is approximately 7 in 10 million births."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10507677
"Ironically, insisting that women fast during labor may actually, should they inhale their vomitus, increase their risk of pulmonary edema, because the gastric juices left in the stomach after hours of fasting are far more acidic than usual; highly acidic fluids in the lungs are more toxic to lung tissue.2 Moreover, the supine position necessitated by the administration of anesthesia increases the risk of gastric inhalation and likelihood of aspiration (Pedersen and Finster 1979). The risk of aspiration increases further when medical personnel apply yet another fairly common intervention: pushing on the abdomen (fundal pressure) to speed up the birth (Kruse and Gibbs 1978)."
https://www.birthingnaturally.net/barp/fasting.html
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I can't really see the point of sneaking in food, we are adults. That being said, I ate right when my labor began with O and got so sick that I puked everything up. I'm not eating this time...maybe some crackers or a cereal bar but that's it.
As for the emergency c/s and food, my mother actually almost died during hers when giving brth to my brother. Granted that was 32 years ago but she had a big meal of Chinese food. I guess they weren't pumping stomachs back then.
so why don't you guys make complaints about those instructors? this is the second time i've heard your story, ally, and seriously, if you feel like this is such a big deal, do something about it instead of bitching to strangers on the internet.
The policy of not eating during labor is ridiculous. I was starving after my first two labors. My water broke with no contractions with baby #3. At the hospital the nurse made me eat a meal before they started the pitocin. She was realistic about the need for nutrition.
Everybody's goal is a healthy mother and baby. People who are striving to achieve this naturally are just as educated as you.
Honestly, many women tire during labor and end up with c-sections because they are exhausted. Allowing a little fuel in the body to keep going makes sense and a lot of research is showing that it is also appropriate.
Doctors are people too, not superheroes. I adored my doctor, but that was because he too was wary of this country's c-section rate and was on board with me in using as little intervention as possible.
It's not stupid to question decisions that personally affect you and children; it's smart. It's perhaps worrisome to act against their advice without an open, honest conversation first, however.
Seriously before you go making a point about something that you read while lurking on another board, spend some time researching what you are talking about. My medically supported labor class advises that we EAT as much as we want when we want during labor & actually has the stats to back up their claims, which I don't need to repost because thankfully PPs have already done this for me.
Just because a hospital tells you to do something does NOT make it the right thing to do. I am so thankful I am birthing at the only hospital in my area that really embraces the midwife way of allowing labor to progress & will allow me to eat if I want to.
This post just makes me feel so much better about the fact that I actually care enough to educate myself on the myths or behind medical birth in this country rather than flying blindly.
With my DD, I was so paranoid about not being able to eat (I have GD, and if I don't eat my blood sugar drops really low) and I asked my doctor about it prior to labor. She had no issues with me eating during labor if I wanted to eat. In fact, I had a similar experience as the quoted poster - my water broke, no contractions, and I was encouraged by my doctor to get a good meal before they gave me the pitocin (b/c she said I likely wouldn't want to eat).
Yep, you're misinformed, as others have done a good job of pointing out, so I won't reiterate the facts.
I will tell you that I ate like a PIG through both of my hospital labors (one with an epi after 30 hours of labor, one natural). All of my meals were served to me by the hospital while I was in active labor, and I also snacked like crazy with full knowledge of my MWs and the nurses. I was ravenous, and I was fed. To do otherwise with a laboring woman is barbaric, IMO.
I switched to the MW practice from an OB (whom I otherwise loved) halfway through my first pregnancy, in part because of her stance on eating in labor. When I asked how she felt about it, she said "oh, yeah, you can eat. Popsicles and broth are great." I laughed and told her that wasn't food, but she was pretty inflexible.
I'm glad my hospital is more up to speed than you are.
I'm glad you only know of 2 people with emergency c/s's but I know a lot more. And you can add me to that list, so now you know 3.
I ended up going to L&D when I was feeling unwell at 37 weeks. I had had dinner beforehand. When I got to the hospital it was discovered that I had HELLP, a severe form of pre-eclampsia. They needed to take the baby as soon as possible but because I had a heavy dinner they had to wait for fear of me aspirating my food. It was a very real and serious issue. Luckily, we were able to wait a few hours but I've never been so nervous in my life because the doctors kept doing the math to figure out when it would be safe for me to have my c/s. I had to be put under general anesthesia because my blood wasn't clotting and I couldn't have an epidural.
I'm not saying that is going to happen to anyone here, but emergency c/s's do exist and aspiration is a serious potential complication.
yes, actually, you are wrong to think we are being ridiculous. do YOU actually know why women are "not allowed" to eat during labor? it is not because there is a huge risk of aspirating vomit during an emergency surgery. it is to protect the hospital from liability in the VERY RARE event that a mother actually needs an emergency section and EVEN MORE RARE event that she aspirates vomit during said surgery. what's WAY more likely is that she develops complications from overuse of interventions, lack of adequate nutrition during labor and restrictions on movement which might otherwise help her during labor.
this is why some women choose to eat during labor, regardless of hospital protocal. because we love our bodies AND our babies and we have chosen to educate ourselves rather than blindly following doctors orders simply because they are doctors orders. perhaps you should do the same and then you wouldn't have such ridiculous things to say.
I ate 10 meatballs, potato salad, a granola bar AND a glass of pepsi on my third hour of pushing! Less than an hour later my son was born. It was those dang meatballs that got my son out. Otherwise, I'm sure I would have been a transfer to the hospital for a c/s. I was required to eat and drink during my labor and I am so thankful for it!!
Oh- and I am an OB nurse in a hospital and I agree that some hospital rules are there to cover their butts. Others pointed out very good research. And it is true, if you just filled your belly with Mc Donald's and were in a car accident, they would still operate on you and the incidence of aspiration is so small. It is rules like this (that are completely counterintuitve) that helped me decide where to birth my baby... I am very educated and work in the setting and I will be honest with you, I also tell people to make sure they eat. It doesn't make sense not to!!
Huh.
I wonder if the OP was referring to a post I'd made on the Natural Birth board about sneaking food and water (in those exact words), among other things.I also wonder if she's had a baby before. Everyone is indeed different, but I remember being SO exhausted, thirsty, and in need an energy boost when I was in labor with DS. Everything in my being was telling me that I needed nourishment but it was denied because of a hospital policy. Limiting myself to sucking on ice chips felt entirely unnatural and wrong.
I swore to myself that the next time I had a baby, I'd be doing it at a birthing center that allows women to have some control over their birth experience. Little did I know then that I'd be living in the Middle East, where my options are pretty limited and so, once again, I'll be giving birth in a hospital with similar policies. To offer you some perspective, home births are ILLEGAL here. So yeah, of course I'll eat before I go to L&D but NEWS FLASH - labor is not like the movies and chances are I'll be in there for several hours - plenty of time to become hungry and thirsty again.
I won't get into the medical reasons why access to food and water can be extremely helpful during labor (they've been pretty well covered by PPs). I only ask that you think about not being so quick to judge others in the future.
Maybe because medical professionals are human and fallible too?
I'm sorry, but you are absolutely being ridiculous, OP. Study after study have shown a) that the likelihood of you aspirating food during a c-section is miniscule at best and b) the benefits of eating and keeping your energy up FAR outweigh any of the risks of eating. In fact, more and more hospitals are reversing this policy in favor of allowing a laboring woman to eat.
Beyond that, some women have labors that last DAYS-- are you really being so unreasonable that you expect a woman going through the hardest physical exertion she's probably ever experienced WITHOUT EATING?!
You sound incredibly ignorant. Blind trust in your OB is probably more dangerous than eating during labor.