How can you prevent this during labor (maybe tmi for some people)

jasperc0748 · March 2014

Ok, I know that every friggen google post I look up says "you won't care." But is there any ways to help prevent pooping during labor? I really don't care how many times people say "you really won't care." I want to not be embarrassed as well as not stink up the room. I am seriously worried about this. I don't want it to be something that the baby's father has to witness. I know it is going to happen to some extent, but I just want to make the poopage as minimal as possible.

Kriztyn · March 2014

I hear it's the same muscles you use to push out the baby so there's no way to prevent it.. Just be glad you're not the one cleaning it up

jennlanting · March 2014

YOU CANNOT AVOID THIS HAPPENING! Either it will or it won't,either way you won't know u less you ask and at the time you will not care

Mizoo · March 2014

Just laugh about it if it does happen, it's really not going to be a big deal. I'm a FTM so I don't know from experience, but I'm told that it's just wiped away pretty much immediately and you would never even know unless someone tells you about it.

The thought of pooping on the table in front of my SO and all the hospital staff was scary to me for a while, but now I'm just expecting it to happen. I just look at it as a part of giving birth! SO will still love me and LO even if I lay a big old log on the table :-)

maelic · March 2014

If you had the fine muscle control to push a baby out without involving your bowels at all you'd be a freak. Honestly.

Just make your peace with it, it'll happen and you won't care.

ohwhynot85 · March 2014

You cannot prevent it from happening and you WILL NOT CARE! You will be so focused on pushing our your baby, that you won't know that it's even happened unless your SO/DH/WHOMEVER points it out to you. The nurses sure as hell wont and neither will the Dr. They will wipe it away quicker than you can blink. Moving right along.....

ohwhynot85 · March 2014

maelic said:

If you had the fine muscle control to push a baby out without involving your bowels at all you'd be a freak. Honestly. Just make your peace with it, it'll happen and you won't care.

I must be a freak because it didn't happen to me with my son 8 years ago.

NewMrsMacC · March 2014

Oh jeez, I def dont want DH seeing that either, I'll have him up by my head, until LO is born and poop is gone, lol!

PrimRoseMama · March 2014

Sorry you cannot prevent it.

PrimRoseMama · March 2014

NewMrsMacC said:
Oh jeez, I def dont want DH seeing that either, I'll have him up by my head, until LO is born and poop is gone, lol!

He will still be able to see everything. Your knees are going to be up by your ears. It's childbirth. Not pretty, but natural. Your husband will get over it

MJC1116 · March 2014

If I could offer you any advice, it would be to get over this fear asap. I went into labor with the same mentality as you, and I truly believe it impaired my ability to push. I ended up pushing for almost 3 hours, requiring an episiotomy and 2 minutes away from use of vacuum. Just push it all out, girl.

NewMrsMacC · March 2014

PrimRoseMama said:

Oh jeez, I def dont want DH seeing that either, I'll have him up by my head, until LO is born and poop is gone, lol!
He will still be able to see everything. Your knees are going to be up by your ears. It's childbirth. Not pretty, but natural. Your husband will get over it

Relax, Im joking and having a little laugh, trying to make light of the topic. And yes, Im sure he will get over it.

desertmouse39 · March 2014

I've heard some hospitals offer, or you can request, an enema - but in my opinion, it's just silly. Not everyone poops during delivery, I think most of us do a little, and it's just part of everything else that is coming out during that precious time! I mean, they tell you to push like you're having a BM, so guess what? I pooped some during the delivery of my first baby, my husband saw, we laughed about it later and got over it. We're still married, we still have sex, and he'll be right there when I deliver our next one, any day now!

Your body is amazing, you've grown a new human and are going to bring it in to this world - another natural bodily function occurring shouldn't get in the way of such wonder, for you or hubby

flowerx2 · March 2014

I was told at my labor class I took that as your body gets ready for giving birth you will most likely get diarrhea a few days before to clean your body out? But it happens all the time and they just wipe it away. FTM so no first hand experience.

DTNZ4Ever · March 2014

I didn't even know I did twice until DH told me I did twice. Seriously you have so much going on you won't even notice or care.

MapleLeafMama · March 2014

The hospital staff has seen it all and then some. Pushing uses the same muscles as a BM, and that's how you know you're pushing correctly! You really won't care.

WashingtonQueen · March 2014

Amniotic fluid squirted on my DH when I pushed our daughter out. There, now you have something else to worry about.

NewMrsMacC · March 2014

WashingtonQueen said:

Amniotic fluid squirted on my DH when I pushed our daughter out. There, now you have something else to worry about.

Omg! I lol'd irl at this post! Too funny! Pooping during labor and then, amniotic fluid squirting onto DH! Sounds like party time! <:-P lol!

Maqueripe · March 2014

You honestly won't care. I thought I didn't poop and was giving my SO a high five about it then he told me I did but it was only a little bit and they took care of it quickly. I honestly had no idea it even happened, in that moment when I was trying to push her out the last thing I was thinking about was pooping. You are in an ENTIRELY different mindset during labor, trust me, like everyone else said you won't care and you probably won't even know.

themarquis0 · March 2014

I expected my wife to poop during labor (not a big deal to me) but she didn't! Or at least, I didn't notice anything. Maybe I was so focused on our baby coming out that I didn't even see it!

I have to say, though, the poop is the least of it. Honestly, your DH will see lots of ... stuff. I swear I saw a hemmorhoid pop out as my wife was pushing.

But you know what? I don't care at all. I love her just the same as I always did, if not more. Anyone who doesn't love you just the same/more after you push a baby out for you doesn't deserve you.

momofmanyinthemitten · March 2014

My OB said that if you're pushing correctly, it happens. I pooped a TON, but I had been constipated for a while. At first, I apologized, but after the 3rd or 4th time, I didn't care. Medical staff sees uracil the time.

Christal161 · March 2014

You won't care about that lol was worried about it too, but when it came the time to go in labour, geez it was far from my mind! To be honest, I don't think I did, I had a mirror so I could watch my birth as well. Nothing came out but the baby. But everyone is different. When I was worried about this (FTM) my mother would say "it's not a full blown crap, it's just a little that comes out and before anyone notice your pooping, she/he wipes it off immediately." So don't worry.

RebeccaY1 · March 2014

At my childbirth class they talked about this. They said that it doesn't always happen, but that there isn't anything you can do to prevent it. They also said that it isn't a huge bowel movement, it's usually just a little bit. The nurses clean it up right away and you don't even know that it's happened because it's the same muscles that push out the baby. I know it's disturbing, but in the end your life will be full of poop for the next couple of years of changing diapers anyway.

awc1986 · March 2014

I'm a very private person when it comes to my body. My DH is the only other adult to have seen me naked, so you can imagine how i feel about others knowing my bodily functions. I was even nervous about having a smear because its so personal. However, when it comes to giving birth I think 3 things:

1) the drs and nurses deal with this stuff several times a day. It's just part of the job for them.

2) I'll be in so much pain I won't care what's coming out.

3) out off all the things DH will see on the day, a bit of poo is going to be at the less gross end of the scale.

saraapuzzo24 · March 2014

Lol pooping is to be expected, I know I'll be embarrassed if it happens to me. But what about farting lol does that happend

tjkdlhb · March 2014

You are seriously just going to want the baby to be out of your body at that point.

For most of my labour I felt like I had to poop, so I actually labored in the bathroom on the toilet most of the time. That actually ended up being more comfortable than other positions.

I probably pooped. I expect I did... but I have no idea. I didn't ask.

FWIW I wanted DH to stay up at my head for more reasons than poop. It was better for me to have him close to me and I didn't want to see any of the 'carnage' from what was happening. Apparently he accidentally looked when they were stitching me up and was traumatized... (not for him - for me)

joelnrach · March 2014

You won't even know it happened. The Drs/Nurses will not say anything. Try not to worry.

maelic · March 2014

ohwhynot85 said:

maelic said:

If you had the fine muscle control to push a baby out without involving your bowels at all you'd be a freak. Honestly. Just make your peace with it, it'll happen and you won't care.

I must be a freak because it didn't happen to me with my son 8 years ago.

Haha, I don't mean to say that it is inevitable, but if there's something to push out in your bowel it'll get pushed out. You can't, physically, prevent that. It is what it is.

Wyn · March 2014

Lucky me--I didn't poop at my first birth, which probably mean I'll have the world's largest BM at my second. Oh dear...

ncbelle · March 2014

Think of it this way…if you poop in labor that's that much longer you can put off the first postpartum poop…and that's the one you should fear

PrimRoseMama · March 2014

ncbelle said:
Think of it this way…if you poop in labor that's that much longer you can put off the first postpartum poop…and that's the one you should fear

No joke. X_X

Mommy23boys · March 2014

Had anyone had a BM during a water birth?

jasrun80 · March 2014

i personally did hate this part and i did care but its unpreventable so i'd just say good luck! I'm imagining the ONLY way to prevent is to stop eating.

ncbelle · March 2014

Mommy23boys said:

Had anyone had a BM during a water birth?

Yes, they do use the little fish nets. What can you do but laugh!

MapleLeafMama · March 2014

jasrun80 said:

i personally did hate this part and i did care but its unpreventable so i'd just say good luck! I'm imagining the ONLY way to prevent is to stop eating.

Nope. I didn't eat for 24 hours before pushing and I still pooped. I even said to the nurse "but I haven't eaten anything!" She was like, "yup, doesn't matter!"

awc1986 · March 2014

My SIL recommended taking a stool softener when you know you've gone into labour, in order to make the first PP-poop a lot easier. Unfortunately it'll probably have a lubricating effect on that function while on the table. As long as i don't have to see it or clean it up, then i don't really see the big deal. There will be so much gunk coming out of me that a bit of poop won't exactly shock anyone.

WashingtonQueen · March 2014

awc1986 said:
My SIL recommended taking a stool softener when you know you've gone into labour, in order to make the first PP-poop a lot easier. Unfortunately it'll probably have a lubricating effect on that function while on the table. As long as i don't have to see it or clean it up, then i don't really see the big deal. There will be so much gunk coming out of me that a bit of poop won't exactly shock anyone.

It makes no sense at all to take it while you're in labor. A couple days after maybe.

Mizoo · March 2014

ncbelle said:

Mommy23boys said:

Had anyone had a BM during a water birth?

Yes, they do use the little fish nets. What can you do but laugh!

I've been planning on delivering in the birthing tub at my hospital, and I had never even thought about this! Little fish nets. Hahahaha! I know SO and I will probably laugh if we see them go in with the little nets for poop!

awc1986 · March 2014

WashingtonQueen said:

awc1986 said:
My SIL recommended taking a stool softener when you know you've gone into labour, in order to make the first PP-poop a lot easier. Unfortunately it'll probably have a lubricating effect on that function while on the table. As long as i don't have to see it or clean it up, then i don't really see the big deal. There will be so much gunk coming out of me that a bit of poop won't exactly shock anyone.
It makes no sense at all to take it while you're in labor. A couple days after maybe.

Meh. Worked for her, twice.

gypsymystic · March 2014

Kkari81 said:

I was told at my labor class I took that as your body gets ready for giving birth you will most likely get diarrhea a few days before to clean your body out? But it happens all the time and they just wipe it away. FTM so no first hand experience.

This. Also, I hear you can get an enema before active labor but my hospital never offered it. I had nausea and wicked diarrhea all night before I had my DS1 so there was nothin' left when he was born. lol

24karat · March 2014

ncbelle said:
Think of it this way…if you poop in labor that's that much longer you can put off the first postpartum poop…and that's the one you should fear

Best perspective on the subject. Ever.

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How can you prevent this during labor (maybe tmi for some people)

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