Severe constipation - TMI warning! - Page 2

[tracymom1]

Originally Posted by IdentityCrisisMama 

Oddly enough bananas have not contributed to constipation and seem to maybe even help.  

I have been craving bananas like crazy lately and since they are one of the less expensive fruits, we always have them in the house.  Seeing them on the counter is like torture!!!!  Maybe I should just eat one and see what happens.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

That's exactly how I felt until one day I just figured it couldn't get any worse.   I decided to throw caution to the wind and have one.   

[amandahp3]

OK I totally skimmed the first page of posts so forgive me if I mention something that someone else already said...

When my younger daughter was pretty severely constipated around the time we started with solids, I found a couple things worked for her. Every couple of days, carrots would do it, but they didn't always work. Along with the fiber theme, my mother's doctor (who is from the middle east) said she could eat a good, hearty fiberlicious bread (OK, that's not his technical term), and also to try lentils or dates. Lentils ended up working really, really well. Too well, actually. And one or two dates now does pretty well too.

I know you hate prunes, but I have been told that soaking one or two prunes in water for some amount of time (I'm not sure because I've never tried it) and then drinking the pruney water has the same effect. If you do it that way, you could flavor the water somehow maybe so it wasn't as disgusting to you.

Maybe you should just stay on all fours for a couple hours to get the baby off your intestines? :)

[k9sarchik]

I've been in this same boat this pregnancy too. Didn't have this with my first.  The only thing I have found to work is drinking Kefir.  I don't think it's because of the probiotics because I am already taking a supplement with the same probiotics in it.  Needless to say though it's saved my butt literally.  

[msmiranda]

Originally Posted by LaurenAnanas 

I had the same thing around the same time and it totally got better!  But there was one really awful day that ended with a glove and some unpetroleum jelly. No details, but... It was horrible. I do not tend towards constipation, so it was a new, awful thing for me.

I'm back on track now, with a daily magnesium supplement, natural yogurt, prunes, water, and these incredible muffins:  http://www.farmgirlfare.com/2007/02/back-into-bran-muffins.html

Even if you're not constipated, I highly recommend that recipe: no refined sugar, no pre-made cereal, all whole grain, and the tastiest bran muffins I've ever had.

So I'm not the only one who had to go in with a glove!  I am so sorry this happened to you because I know very well how traumatic it is.  Happened at 38 weeks during my last pregnancy.  I was eating super healthy and lots of fiber but still struggled with constipation the whole pregnancy.  I always tell my glove story on message boards because I want to warn other mamas that it actually can get that bad so try everything you can to get a handle on it, even if it means taking stool softeners every day. 

I will just give the following details:  impaction is very painful, and it made me swell up in the front too.  I wore an ice pack in my pants for three days afterwards to help the swelling go down.  My poor husband had to go the store and buy things like prunes and an enema (can you imagine going to the checkout with just those two items?).  He was such a good sport about it!  The baby was born 6 days after this happened and honestly it was almost a nonevent because the impaction and dealing with it was much more painful and traumatic than giving birth.  I am so glad that I haven't had too much constipation yet this time around, but let me tell you I am always thinking to myself, when is the last time I did #2, and watching out for signs because I do not want to go through that again!  My midwife said she had seen some mamas where it was almost as big as the baby (yikes!!!!).   

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Bummer, mamas!!  I "went in too" with my first pregnancy.  Haven't had to this time around, thankfully.  I wanted to add that I have taken the occasional Colace.  I've got a handy hemorrhoid that tells me when it's time to take a colace by...major TMI...dripping blood in the toilet.  Isn't pregnancy fun??