during labour and after labour recipes

During labor - I am assuming you mean for yourself??? Juice, smoothies, light soup or broth, herbal tea is probably all you'll want. For the rest of the family - sandwich fixings, soup, bagels, scrambled eggs are easy stuff for your husband to fix.

After labor, you will need some good replenishing and restoring food. Soups is a great choice. You can make it in advance and keep it in refrigerator or freezer.

If you eat fish, that is a great choice. Here is a great postpartum soup:

Fish and Seaweed soup

This is especially nourishing postpartum soup to replenish lost minerals. In China and Korea, fish and seaweed soup was traditionally given the first week after childbirth.

1/2 pound raw salmon, cod, mackerel or other cold water fish, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
2 carrots, sliced
1/4 cup crushed wakame, hiziki, arame or a mixture of all three
4 cups water or fish, chicken, or vegetable broth
1 cup chopped kale, spinach, or other leafy green
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon miso
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro or parsley

Place fish, leeks or onions, carrots, and water or broth in large pan. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until fish is cooked. Stir in greens and ginger. Simmer 3 to 5 minutes, or until greens are tender. Remove from heat. Stir in miso. Add a little sea salt or soy sauce if nessesary. Sprinkle cilantro or parsley over soup.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

If you don't eat fish, substitute tofu or tempeh.

If that soup is too weird, try vegetable soup, lentil soup, split pea, chicken soup, whatever your favorite is. If you make soup in advance, freeze it in meal size containers so you'll always have a meal ready - those first few weeks are hectic.

Other ideas to make in advance are pasta dishes - they freeze well, meatloaf, quiche, rice and beans to make burritos.

During labor I wasn't much for eating, but keep on hand light healthy snacks just in case... I did want herbal tea and electrolyte drink.

After delivery, during the postpartum recovery, it is really important to eat plenty of blood-building & iron-rich foods.
Different cultures have various foods they feed the mother. In India a traditional postpartum recovery food is made of ground almonds mixed in whole milk. The mother will drink this daily.
In Malaysia they make a soup of boiled pork (on bone) w/ green leafy vegis and other vegis. The mom drinks this once or more a day for several weeks.
The Chinese make a porridge (often called conji) from brown rice, then mix in fermented black beans and a bit of steamed greens. They also feed the mother pork, chicken, and eggs, all believed to restore "chi" and blood loss.

I'd say these are all great ideas. Other good foods would be baked salmon w/ steamed greens such as kale, chard, spinach...
steamed broccoli, chili made w/ kidney beans, a quiche made with spinach, sauteed shitake mushrooms, miso soup w/ sea weed, spinach dip...
if you eat meat, and if you eat pork, pork is believed to be wonderful for restoring blood in the body and revitalizing energy. I am normally not a pork eater, but I do make an exception for the Malaysian pork stew and red beans cooked with some pork sausage during postpartum.
Hot carob (prepared like hot cocoa) is an excellent treat. Carob is very rich in iron. Or make yourself some carob-chip cookies.
Buckwheat is another good choice for iron. I personally love buckwheat pancakes and waffles. You could make some muffins as well w/ buckwheat flour, add some molasses, and raisins, and you have a very iron rich snack. You could actually make pancakes or muffins in advance and freeze them.

Cathes stew sounds like a wonderful idea!