Did you eat during yr in hospital labor/delivery?

[UmmIbrahim]

Hey all

So Im curious...for those of you who gave birth in a actual hospital...you know the ones where they say no liquid or food only ice cubes...or if your really lucky where they allow "clear" liquids...

did you bend the rules and eat when the nurses werent looking?

I only ask becos when I had my son-Jan 7th, I was determined NOT to starve to death and I knew I was going to do it drug free, althought I was induced and while the hospital allowed clear liquids I had brought along with my those nutrition and protein bars and Boost protein and vitamin drinks and when the nurses were out my doula (who felt as I did...that the rules were looney...esp since I wasnt getting drugged) would break me off pieces of the bar or give me the drinks.

I swear it helped me as I was in the hospital on Pitocine for a whole 20hrs before I even went into active labor (I had been in early labor or 3 weeks...though at times it was very active)...and my family credits my clandestine eating with being able to handle the intense pitocin induced contractions alot better than most (sans drugs) and also why even though I pushed for 3 hrs and apparently lost alot of blood I didnt have any major problems.

So Im curious about others...

Umm Ibrahim

[SublimeBirthGirl]

I had my 1st in the hospital, but the hospital I chose allowed food during labor so I didn't have to break any rules. If I'd had to go somewhere that didn't allow food, I wouldn't even hesitate to break the rules though. It's a stupid rule.

[CaraNicole]

i wasn't allowed to eat...not that i would of let it stop me...i didn't have a long labor 4hrs...so i didn't get hungry i was tired...

[goddessgold1]

I was told not to eat or drink, I ignored them. My husband brought me bottles of water and food from the cafeteria, every time a nurse would come in, she would say something like, you know your not supposed to have that, I would jsut smile and say, "I know, thank you". That is my answer to almost everything, when my newest babies dr was freaking about not vaxxing, she kept saying but he will be delayed, " I know, thank you" but he will be late" I know thank you" it is just my answer to avoid conflict, and to basically say, yep, thanks for your input, but no thank you.

[Synchro246]

I did the same thing in my marathon labor. I had little pieces of protein/energy bars. I didn't really want or need that much to stay not-hungry.
I would suggest anyone doing this though that someone with you knows to tell the docs/anesthesiologist in the rare event of a real emergency if general anesthesia were needed. I know it's rare but if I were the anesthesiologist I would like to know just in case. KWIM?

Next time, not that there will be one for me (I'm still planning homebirths on my end), I will be more frank about breaking the rule. If I truely think it's silly, and I do, there's no reason for me not to be honest.

[hubris]

I didn't eat while in labor at the hospital, but only because I waited to go until I was pretty far into active labor. When I'm laboring, I reach a point where I'm all withdrawn into myself and don't want food - actually, food doesn't even occur to me at that point.

[ellymay]

Nope non allowed here which I think is stupid but I guess I saw why the other day when my bestfriend was in labor and puked all over herself during pushing bc the nurse let her drink alot of water.

[pookel]

I had red jello and puked it all up a few hours later. Red jello is bad to throw up, it looks just like blood. After that I didn't try to eat anything else, I couldn't stand the thought of food.

[hunnybumm]

With DS#1 I was in a hospital and not allowed to have food or liquids. I sucked on hard candy and ate ice chips. I was starving and watched food network with my epidural. With DS#2 I was allowed to have food and drinks at the free standing birth center, but I was in so much pain I wasn't hungry or thirsty. They had to really encourage me to drink because I was dehydrated.

[crysmomofthree]

I don't remember being told about a food restriction (although I remember reading it in the hospital literature) but I'm not one to ask permission, so if I was hungry I ate and I was definately encouraged to drink a lot by my midwives.

I had spinach croissants with my first birth
2nd I was deadly sick so no eating and they forced me to drink gallons of apple juice and i'll never be able to drink it again

3rd, can you believe that they served hot dogs for the lunch??? gross I had cookies, and granola bars and some fruit.

4th it was teh middle of the night and I had a banana

[MamaPam]

With #1 I had already been in the hospital for a couple days already because of trying to stop pre-term labor. I had developed pulmonary edema from one of the meds and had an infection. The only thing I was allowed was limited ice chips.
With #2 I woke up in the morning have strong contractions. And was not at the hospital long enough to be interested in food. I have no idea what their policy about food/drink labor was. The nurses were super about getting me a meal tray right away afterwards even though I hadn't asked.
With this pregnancy, I anticipate for labor to move quickly because of my history. I plan on eating if I feel like it at home before I go to the hospital. Hadn't thought to ask about this hospital's policy though.

-Pam

[BugMacGee]

With #1, I ate lightly-granola bars, crackers and the like.
Barfed it all up.
With #2-I had water, juice, popcicles.
Barfed it all up.

I was really surprised with the amount of barfing labor involved. It was like a secret no one shared with me....

[Synchro246]

Originally Posted by ellymay

Nope non allowed here which I think is stupid but I guess I saw why the other day when my bestfriend was in labor and puked all over herself during pushing bc the nurse let her drink alot of water.

Ok, even women who *don't* eat will puke. Sometimes having only water will make a person more likely to puke. And just because some people are going to puke is NO REASON to have a stupid rule that all laboring women should starve.
And it's not that the nurse let her drink a lot of water, it's that she drank a lot of water. Practitioners don't *let* or *not let* us do things--we make choices that either fit in with the hospital protocol or don't.

[yeahwhat]

I've never wanted to eat in active labour, or drink anything other than water. No one stopped me from drinking water when I was in hospital with my first. My midwife encouraged me to drink juice with my other babies, but I only wanted water. Ok, when I smelled coffee at 6am after waking up with contractions at 2am, the coffee smelled pretty good too, but I didn't think to ask for any.

[UmmIbrahim]

Originally Posted by BugMacGee

With #1, I ate lightly-granola bars, crackers and the like.
Barfed it all up.
With #2-I had water, juice, popcicles.
Barfed it all up.

I was really surprised with the amount of barfing labor involved. It was like a secret no one shared with me....

whoooh you barfed? It seems alot of you barfed...I never barfed-at all, though even if I did it probably wouldnt of bothered me.

Before even going in I had talked to my doula and been like...look, unless something crazy happens im going to eat and if necessary be sure to tell the nurses/midwive/MD...BUT the midwives I went through KNOW people eat...I asked one about it, and she said...yeah we know people eat but as long as its "not obvious"...we dont care.
LOOOL.

I seriously donno how I would of done 3hrs of pushing and or had enough energy for 6hrs of active labor aftering being there for 20hrs with pitcoin pumping through me if I hadnt of had something.

hehehehe...anyway it rocks reading everyones stories. :-)

Umm Ibrahim

[jennyfah]

Originally Posted by UmmIbrahim

I seriously donno how I would of done 3hrs of pushing and or had enough energy for 6hrs of active labor aftering being there for 20hrs with pitcoin pumping through me if I hadnt of had something.

I had very much the same experience---my DH fed me on the sly for the entirety of my 24 hr. induction/delivery. I was *starving* and have no doubt that I would have ended up with a C-section if I hadn't been able to eat. No way I could have pushed for 4 hours after 20 hours of not eating. IMO it's just cruel to refuse food to a pregnant woman!

Also, it's my understanding that the risks of aspiration under general anesthesia are miniscule anyway. So stupid how criminal we felt sneaking food. It was like being in jr. high or something.

Jen
due any day w/#2

[Shell_Ell]

I had a transfer from a birth center, and no... once I was at the hospital they didn't allow me to eat. It was about 8 hours, but it still sucked. I vaguely remember ice chips (and maybe a popsicle?) but not until I got closer to the pushing stage. I had to BEG the nurse to let me have Tums... my heartburn was horrible.

[Snowdrift]

Originally Posted by Synchro246

Ok, even women who *don't* eat will puke. Sometimes having only water will make a person more likely to puke. And just because some people are going to puke is NO REASON to have a stupid rule that all laboring women should starve.
And it's not that the nurse let her drink a lot of water, it's that she drank a lot of water. Practitioners don't *let* or *not let* us do things--we make choices that either fit in with the hospital protocol or don't.

Thank you.
The rest of this thread isn't relevant to me (homebirth) but I wanted to weigh in on this point. My labor became quite the vomit-fest, which to me was a reason to keep eating--retching on a an empty stomach is ever so much more miserable than throwing up food and water.

[Jenlaana]

I would have to double check my sources for the details on this as its been almost 2 yrs since I did this research, but the "no eating so you don't choke under general anesthesia" thing is based on the type of anesthesia they used in the 1950's. Huge advances have been made since that time to insure that people don't choke to death under anesthesia. Women go into the hospital and need emergency surgery immediately, all the time, including w/ cesareans, and those people have no problem being under anesthesia. I forget the exact details, but I KNOW they do something different.

The problem is that hospitals are run like the government. They get a rule on the books and it takes an act of god to change it.

I did not skip a single meal w/ my babe, although I did birth at home. There is no way I would attempt to go through something that labor intensive (pardon the pun) without the right energy.

And you aren't restricted from eating because of puking. Hospitals are made to be able to clean that stuff up all the time, and eating doesn't make you puke. I ate breakfast (eggs and toast) and lunch (healthy sandwich) and an afternoon snack (fruit I think) and then had my DD at 4:30pm and didnt throw up at ALL.

[mamabadger]

Our local hospital allows not food or drink in labour. I spent most of my labours at home, so it didn't really become an issue. However, I've had several doula clients who packed a nice picnic basket to take to the hospital, and either sneaked the food or simply told the nurses that they needed to eat, hospital policy or no hospital policy. There was also one couple who got so fed up with a nurse nagging them about eating ("If you need emergency surgery, you'll choke and die!") that the dad got a big order of Chinese take-out and set it up all over the labour room.