Did you eat during yr in hospital labor/delivery? - Page 2

[UmmIbrahim]

yeah I seriously felt like I was in Jr. High having my doula sneak me food...but by the time the active labor started I got this raging appetite so slurped down the boost and just didnt care who saw! Infact I drank att 6 cans I had brought with me and the 6 bars and made my husband go out and buy more! LOL

I too read that it was based on the drugs used in the 50's and I just figured like...the chance im going to hafta go under anesthesia are slim to nill as i was SOOO gunho about having Ibi drug free...Plus, i reasoned that like...should I puke and choke on my puke...then I willingly took that chance. However slim.

BUT, next time im NOT going to have whatever future babies we have in the hospital if at all possible but either at home or in a birthing center...should I hafta use a hospital i'll seriously order out chinese takeout too...LOL Thats too hilarious that the dad did that!!!!!!

Originally Posted by 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.

[teeny_bean]

I didn't eat or drink while I was in labor at the hospital, BUT my labor was less than six hours from start to finish, I threw up three hours into it, and I only spent 1.5 hours in labor at the hospital anyway.

If I'd had a 20+ hour labor like some of you, then I definitely would have eaten whatever I felt like eating. It's crazy and downright cruel to expect a woman to do that much work on a completely empty stomach. Birthing babies is hard work; you can't do it if you're starving!

[Belle]

The hospital that I gave birth at encourages drinking water, but no food.

That said, my nurses brought my dh a bowl of fruit when I was in labor and looked the other way when I ate some too. I only had a few pieces but it was all I needed at the time.

After the birth they brought me two trays of food. I ate everything.

[MommytoTwo]

Hell yes. I was induced at 8 am on a Tuesday and didnt have my baby till 4 pm on Wednesday so yes I ate several Power Bars (would cough as I was opening the wrapper so they wouldnt hear the crinkle hahahaha) and then when I was really desperate I was stealing tomatoes off the salads on the food trays in the hallway. Still not a lot of food for a laboring woman for 2 days - I was STARVING.

Had I known then what I know now I would have eaten whatever the hell I felt like having right in front of them... but had I known then what I know now I wouldnt be there in the first place.

I threw up violently after he was finally born .. I had a c-section and when they finally let me have clear liquid about 6 hours after the surgery and I threw it up immediately. But after barely any food or water for 2 whole days I was desperate to drink anything.

[BugMacGee]

If you're going to eat chinese take out, avoid noodles. Barfing noodles immediately after eating them is not fun.. They don't always come out all the way!

BTW, I DO NOT second the opinion that it's worse to throw up water and liquid than food! I am a seasoned barfer (nasty morning sickness). It is much more pleasant to not have chunks.

This is by far the grossest thread I've ever written.

[basmom]

The nurses at the hospital I delivered at encouraged me to snack throughout the day. They have a "room-service" set-up through the cafeteria and I took advantage of it. I ate a bagel, pineapple chunks, a banana, and some peanut butter crackers...then threw it all up during transition. But I was ready to chow-down on the pizza my brother bought for me as soon as DS was born!

[Verity]

Originally Posted by 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.

:

Once I was in labor, I didn't really want food. Even with my third, when my labor began with water breaking and no contractions, I ate very little until after the birth. (Fortunately, that was only 10 hours or so.)

I did stay home/away from the hospital for as long as I could with all three births, so I don't really know how the hospitals would have been with eating during labor. My midwives were not hesitant to bend other hospital rules, so I doubt it would have been a problem if I'd really wanted something to eat.

[Synchro246]

Originally Posted by BugMacGee

If you're going to eat chinese take out, avoid noodles. Barfing noodles immediately after eating them is not fun.. They don't always come out all the way!

BTW, I DO NOT second the opinion that it's worse to throw up water and liquid than food! I am a seasoned barfer (nasty morning sickness). It is much more pleasant to not have chunks.

This is by far the grossest thread I've ever written.

Puking up icecream is the best though.

[mezzaluna]

i labored 6 hours total, and in the hospital only 4 hours, and it was from midnight to 4 am, so i didn't feel like eating, i was too busy laboring, and it was the middle of the night! right after the birth i had some orange juice, though... and it tasted like the best thing in the world, even though it was the crappy stuff in the plastic cup with the foil lid like you might get in an airplane breakfast. *then* it turns out i needed general anesthesia (after a drug-free birth!) because the OB thought i needed a D&C (i didn't) and the anesthesiologist asked me what food and drink i'd had recently, and he didn't think the OJ was a problem.

[Codi's Mama]

The hospital I delivered DD at had a clear liquids only rule. Clear liquids included Jello, popsicles, Sprite, 7-UP, water, apple juice and ice chips.
I went in on a Tuesday, they brought me a dinner tray Tuesday night because I wasn't in active labor yet and I was starving. DH brought me in chocolates which I'd asked for, too. : I don't remember eating again until breakfast on Thursday (after DD was born). That was the only time I was really hungry, otherwise I would have had DH get me something from the cafeteria and eaten it without telling the nurses.

[Jenlaana]

Originally Posted by MommytoTwo

(would cough as I was opening the wrapper so they wouldnt hear the crinkle hahahaha) and then when I was really desperate I was stealing tomatoes off the salads on the food trays in the hallway.

It says something really terrible about delivery ward "policies and proceedures" when women feel the need to do this in order to get the nourishment their bodies are telling them they need for labor.

I went to the hospital for monitoring for like 4 hrs a week w/ my first pregnancy (I had high BP and they were concerned that I would develop toxemia) and every time I went, even though I went once a week at the same time/day every time, they would REFUSE to give me food or let my ex-husband give me food because they thought I was really there for surgery and the doctor just hadnt told me yet.

I was 18 yrs old and didnt know any better, and I hate knowing that i let someone treat me like that.

[ReallyRosie]

Whatever you do, make sure you find out for sure! Although eating was the last thing I wanted to do during labour, I was SO THIRSTY, but I assumed I wouldn't be allowed anything except the ice chips they kept giving DH to feed me. So I just kept crunching away. After I gave birth the nurse remarked that I hadn't had anything to eat or drink the whole time. I was like, "I thought I could just have the ice!" To which she replied, "Don't be silly." : Stupid, on my part.

You know what I really wanted the whole time? A coke. Probably not the best idea, but man, I wanted one. Instead, I just went to town on those freaking ice chips.

[ericswifey27]

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.

So true.

My problem was being so naive that I submitted to such a ridiculous rule, (along with many other ridiculous rules that I submitted to or was coerced into or just flat out lied to about) . Well I was starving, had no energy... you see where it's going... after 32 hours of not a bite to eat except for a couple of bites of jello (which was taken away immediately and I was chastised because I threw it up- forgot about that-) I ended up with a csection. I was exhausted.

It's a stupid rule. Ketosis anyone?

For anyone laboring in the hospital, please go with your instinct. If you're hungry or you want to change positions or refuse monitoring or an exam or pitocin, just do it. Stand up for yourself. You will not regret it.

[MoonStarFalling]

First time: nothing, not even ice. They were scary militant there and said they had cameras in my room and were watching me from the nurses station so they'd know!

Second time: different doc, different hospital same town, I could have clear liquids while on pit and my dr stopped the pit for several hrs so I could have a real meal. I sent dh out for a huge take out order yum!

If another hospital birth ever comes about I won't hesitate to eat and drink whatever I want.

[umsami]

I was induced with my first one... and the nurses kept bringing me popsicles, which was nice. I wasn't really hungry, but they tasted really good. (It was a loooong labor.)

My second one came really quickly. I was getting breakfast ready for my son when the contractions started. So I went to take a hot shower. After that, I started have dry heaves as I went into transition. By the time we got to the hospital, I was 9 cms dialated... and couldn't think about food at all. Just wanted to get the baby out. No idea what their policy was at the time... but my DH probably would have snuck me food had I asked. After, they brought me lunch. (Nasty hospital food)... so DH went off to get me something I would really want to eat.

Most anesthesiologists assume that you've eaten... just to be on the safe side. And most c-sections are done with epidurals or spinal blocks, so it's not like you're intubated or anything. General anesthesia for a c-section is rare.

[mamaganic]

Our hospital is relaxed about this stuff and actually let women leave and go out to eat. We went out to a cafe and had pancakes. I came back and puked the whole thing up when my contractions intensified. Didn't work for me. I did drink lots of gingerale through the whole labour though.

[AmyJayne19]

with my ds1, i got lunch but i didn't really eat any of it. i didn't eat again til 1 am, 4 1/2 hrs after i delivered him. With my ds2, i hadn't eaten since the afternoon before so around 24 hrs but got to eat an hr after i delivered him. i drank lots of fluids with both to keep me hydrated and i wasn't really hungry for either during but afterwards, i was starving.

[kkar]

No food for me in either hospital birth (and one lasted over 33 hours!) I'm cheating this time though and don't care what they say. It is inhumane to expect someone to run a marathon without nourishment if they need it. Geesh. I'm all mad at my hospital now!

[Momma Aimee]

I birthed in the hosptial with a CNM and i ate and drank the whole time....real food.

crackers after thowing up. apples slices, with cheese slices. a few other things, i remember them brings me stuff to see if i wanted it..... i ater a few cookies, a candy bar....

drank juice, a little milk (didn't sit right) had a coke when pushing....

I was on Pit within an hour of getting there -- water had been broken a looong time and labor had stalled for 3 hours....

I was on a monitor too.....

I also ended up with an Epidural -- at that point i had not eaten in a few hours -- i was so sick and in a lot of pain -- but they didn't ask, said something about "you haven't been pigging out have you " trying to get me to laugh.....