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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

Poo/enema question!

16 replies

funchum8am · 21/08/2012 20:36

Does anyone know if you can request an enema when you reach hospital to give birth, to reduce the risk of having to deal with a poo situation during labour? Just wondering...I know they used to be given routinely but not these days, but are they still available on request?

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BlackOutTheSun · 21/08/2012 20:38

I don't think they are

TaggieCampbellBlack · 21/08/2012 20:40

Much better to push out a bit of solid poo just at the end than to be oozing liquid enema poo for hours during labour.

Original poster

funchum8am · 21/08/2012 20:44

I didn't realise an enema made it go all oozy - quite right I'd prefer a one-off that was easier to deal with! (must remember not to try to bring on labour via the vindaloo method!)

OP posts:

TaggieCampbellBlack · 21/08/2012 20:48

Theres so much goo involved with birth and you'll be so busy you'd probably not notice anyway tbh.

oddslippers · 21/08/2012 20:48

You may well poo .... you certainly will not care :o

ginmakesitallok · 21/08/2012 20:50

I would mush rather have a normal poo during labour than be the wierd woman who asked for an enema and shit all over the place!!

for what it's worth I didn't poo during either of my labours (as far as I know!!)

cazboldy · 21/08/2012 20:53

I have had 5 dc and only did once

and have never told anyone that (though obv my dh knows!)

GwennieF · 21/08/2012 20:54

I had a poo while I was pushing DD out. By that stage, I honestly could not have cared less - I apologised to the poor student midwife who caught it but it was purely for forms sake!

Original poster

funchum8am · 21/08/2012 20:55

Also hadn't thought about being the weird woman who asked for an enema!!! (though did once have a friend who was pretty addicted to colonic irrigation, only the cost of it stopped her going every week! and I thought that was REALLY weird....) You are all quite right, I'm not going to care am I? I am hoping for a water birth in a midwife led unit...I will pack a sieve!

Thank you all for your wise words!

OP posts:

nemno · 21/08/2012 20:59

I hope threads like this and midwife advice now mean women (and their birth partners) realise that pooing during labour is normal. I was totally mortified when it happened with my first baby and tried everything to prevent it happening again with my second (low residue diet, trying to clear when I thought I was in early labour). I could really have done without the stress.

fatsamsgrandslam · 21/08/2012 20:59

I was that weird woman who asked for an enema! I'd been in hospital for a few days before (induction), and I just really struggle to go in shared facilities. I was worried I'd have loads of poo stored up! MWs were happy to oblige and I still pooed in labour though!!

sleepyhead · 21/08/2012 21:04

You really don't have to "deal" with the poo when you're in labour. Seriously, the midwife will be right on to it and v discreet about it.

I did make a comment to dh (was off my tits on g&a) and the midwife gave me a bit of a look. I think she maybe took pride in getting rid of it invisibly and I spoiled the illusion .

SaggyOldClothCatPuss · 21/08/2012 21:12

As another poster said, you WILL poo, you WON'T care!
Trust me. I pissed all over the midwife...really couldn't give a shit!

Flisspaps · 21/08/2012 21:43

I pooed. A lot.

In the pool (DH had to sieve it out; he still fancies me), on the sofa (plastic dust sheet on it), in the ambulance transferring in, on the table in theatre until they put the spinal in (to be fair, all of this was through trying to push an 11lb 7oz baby out and my body just wouldn't stop pushing. For hours. Just pushing involuntarily to get the bloody unbudgable baby out!)

And then in recovery the MW told me my bowels had opened (I was numb, had no idea) and then I went again - twice - in my bed on the PN ward (meds had upset my stomach but my legs were still numb) and quite honestly the only time I cared was the last time because it was visiting hours and the woman in the bed next to me had about 10 visitors gathered round her bed who kept knocking into the fucking curtain when a lone HCA was trying to clean me, change my bed and give me a degree of dignity.

TinkerMaloo · 22/08/2012 09:14

I was constipated beyond belief from iron tablets when I started my last labour so requested an enema. They work in around ten mins so you wont be squirting liqiud poo all throughout the pushing stage at all....

I still did a little tiny bit of poo though, despite the enema, according to DH, but I didnt notice!

grimbletart · 22/08/2012 19:56

I had my babies when enemas were routine and there was no poo even with my first, which involved hours of pushing, forceps etc. . So it's not inevitable

However, I did fart - a lot

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