Enemas? - Page 2

[merpk]

Haven't had the runny poop situation ever. Have had that constipated feeling ... which I can't stand and deal with more in life than I'd like to admit ... so chose to have enemas.

Actually didn't notice any cramps ... beyond the contractions I was already having, what's a few cramps? Once it worked, it felt like a relief to clear things up, IYKWIM, so would choose to have one again.

Still pooped during the pushing, but hey, that's why those OBs make the big bucks, ya' know?

[ericaz]

i had serious concerns about pooping while birthing isadora and had considered doing an enema. i've done 'em lots before so i know what to expect with them.

that said, i got to the hospital in full on labor after laboring at home until i couldn't take it anymore. at the hospital i labored in the jaccuzi and then felt an ENORMOUS urge to poop. so i got out and headed to the bathroom where i took the biggest, most god-awful poop ever. i felt SO much better after that (sans the contractions, lol!) and ready to get the show on the road.

midwife broke my water (her head was very low and the bag of water was the only thing holding her back) and i was able to push almost immediately after that.

looking back - i'm super glad i shat before i did any pushing, however now i know that i wouldn't have known or cared had i pooped on the table. it was the furthest thing from my mind!

isadora, the cheeky monkey, shat all over us both as soon as she was born. :LOL

[lorijds]

Wow, as a nurse, this is a real eye opener. I always address the poop issue at childbirth classes (poop is okay; when we see poop we are like "Yeah, mom is pushing well, baby is moving down!"). I am really surprised that it is such an issue for so many women, and that many would prefer an enema.

Enemas can stimulate contractions by irritating the intestines, which in turn irritates the uterus. I guess I have my own prejudices; I think the use of enemas during birth originated from OBs wanting that dirty area to be clean, and so I think of them as a degrading thing that was forced upon moms in labor.

I have attended over a hundred births now at our birth center, and never once has the thought even occured to me that an enema would be a good thing. Once or twice I can think of a mom who had a fairly large BM pushed out in front of the baby's head. Most moms don't pass any stool, or pass very little. We have warm compresses on the perineum anyhow at that point, so we just wipe anything off as it comes. There usually isn't even a smell, because it is covered by the cloth.

Does anyone worry about urinating while pushing? Because that happens with as least as much frequency as pooping while pushing. I hardly even mention that in my classes, just as an afterthought. Is that also something that people worry about?

Wow, this is really interesting. I guess this is just another reason why laboring and pushing on the toilet is possibly the very best place in the world! Moms make such awesome progress on the toilet, and I guess also they don't have any negative conotations with the whole fecal thing.

[Greaseball]

I urinated as well, but it only happened when I vomited. So I was a big gross mess when it was over! Not like an enema would have helped with that.

The funny thing is that after the birth when the nurses were helping me get to the bathroom, they told me to bunch a sheet between my legs so I wouldn't drip blood. :LOL Why bother with that? The bed is covered in various fluids and solids, blood is everywhere, it looks like someone died in this room! Why worry about the floor?

[beaner&tiegs]

It's so interesting, I was not at all worried about pooing, I knew it was normal during pushing and that the midwives have seen it a tonne of times. With my first birth, I used castor oil at two weeks "overdue", so was completely cleaned out when it came time to push! So I really noticed a difference with my second, when I could actually feel myself pooing as I was pushing the head out, and I found it VERY uncomfortable and disconcerting - not the idea of it, but how it actually physically felt. I think I would actually rather an enema with the next one, but maybe I'll do a bit of reasearch about it first? I didn't know half the concerns about castor oil when I used it (just knew that it was a family tradition through the generations - evidently we carry late for the first!) but now don't think I would use it.

[*Erin*]

hm, i never even thought about it beyond the initial "hm, i could poop on myself. interesting."
i def. wouldnt want an enema. i felt violated enough by the interventionist prenatal stuff i elected to have done. oy. pooping in labor, i understood it's normal and not some freaky nasty thing, so it never bothered me. i didnt poop, to my recollection, but yk, i was so glad to be pushing i wouldnt have known or given a sh*t who i shat on. hey wait, i did pee. i remember that. didnt care about it a bit either.