Hair removal before birth

[imaginationzero]

Hello

I'm 33 wks pg and my mind is now in preparation for birth mode.

I've been exploiting the sales and my thoughts are now turning to how I should prepare myself.

I know midwives and doctors see all manner of 'down below' hair removal and otherwise. I'm just wondering if I should prepare myself with a wax so it's one less thing to worry about when the time comes.

Any thoughts or advice please

Because it is, mrsmugoo. You may not have done it for that radon, but it has become "something people do" because of pornography. And the cleanliness/hygiene schtick is just post hoc rationalization.

Well, this is a sidetrack from the OPs point, but the fact is that shaving off/waxing all pubic hair was very, very much a minority behaviour until the prominence of internet porn. The two have grown up simultaneously. They are not utterly divorced from one another.

Any individual may choose to remove their pubic hair for any number of reasons. However, just like our decisions to remove underarm hair or leg hair those decisions are not made in a cultural vacuum. And I really couldn't give a toss if women like the feel/prefer the look/whatever. All power to whatever a woman chooses to do with her body. But I do think we should try and ensure that it remains a personal choice and not something that people worry that they will be judged for not doing. I really reject the idea that it is ok to drift towards a point where people worry that a professional will think less of them because they haven't got a Hollywood or a Brazilian.

I was in that minority, then, Penguins - I started shaving my pubic hair long before people started to have computers in their homes, let alone access to the internet. And I hadn't watched or read any porn either.

I accept that porn was starting to influence mainstream culture, and that whatever it was that first prompted me to try shaving was probably influenced, at some level, by porn - but I promise you, when I started shaving, I had no idea at all that it was influenced by porn. If I recall correctly, it was mentioned in a Robert A Heinlein novel (sci-fi), and maybe also in Cosmopolitan - but neither of those screamed porn to me, at the time.

I do absolutely agree with your point that no-one should feel they have to base their choice of pubic topiary or styling or lack thereof on what others might think - and as a former nurse, I can assure the OP that no-one I ever worked with would have judged anyone's pubic hair - not out loud (I can't guarantee what was going on in their heads).

That is totally fair enough SDTG. I'm really, really not judging any particular woman who chooses to remove pubic hair, whether it was before it became culturally mainstream or after. It is the idea that people might feel judged (by a partner, by a medical professional) if they choose not to remove their hair that worries and saddens me. It is bad enough that most women would feel uncomfortable (me included) with being seen with hairy legs or armpits. I don't like the idea that more and more things get added to 'obligatory' rather than 'personal preference'

"I can assure the OP that no-one I ever worked with would have judged anyone's pubic hair - not out loud (I can't guarantee what was going on in their heads)."

This is an odd statement. You are saying that judging somebody by the state of their pubic hair is something that people do- all you can say is that a HCP would be tell well trained to actually say anything out loud? Well, that's a relief to all concerned!

And neither Heinlein or Cosmo "screaming porn"? Really? I can assure you that if you were influenced by either of them! then you were most definitely influenced by the porn industry.

"This is an odd statement. You are saying that judging somebody by the state of their pubic hair is something that people do- all you can say is that a HCP would be tell well trained to actually say anything out loud? Well, that's a relief to all concerned!"

No, I am NOT saying that, curlew. All I am saying is that I can only tell you what they said out loud - I am not a mind reader, so I can't tell you for certain what they were thinking. I believed, maybe wrongly, that some people would think - 'ah well, they weren't saying it, but they might have been thinking it - and was pre-empting that by stating that I could only go on what people actually said. I am not a bloody mind reader!

I can promise you that none of my nurse tutors ever felt the need to point out to us the necessity not to judge our patients pubic hair (or anything else about them), and none of my colleagues ever expressed negative comments about a patient's pubic hair in my hearing, which would lead me to assume that my colleagues were not judging people's pubic topiary.

And neither Heinlein nor Cosmo screamed porn to me, at that time - maybe that means I was very sheltered, innocent and naive at that time - but that is the fact of what was going on in my head at that time!

Returning to OP's question. I somehow managed a trim, maybe a week or so before DD's birth. Made me feel tidier. After labouring all day in a birth pool and an hour of unsuccessful pushing, I was taken to theatre for forceps and possible section. The short period they were prepping me for theatre is rather hazy but I distinctly remember them checking the hair down below and saying there was no need to shave for the section. In the event one push with forceps did the job, but I was very glad they didn't need to take time shaving - had reached the "I want to meet my baby" stage and didn't want any delay.

When they check you to 'shave for a section' they are looking higher up, at incision site and where they might stick dressings (as hairs come out when you pull them off). Shaving there a while before a planned section (so any rash settles and tiny abrasions have healed) is a good idea, as indeed is shaving any body part around a planned incision (eg men's chests before thoracic surgery).

I was overdue and induced. The night before I shaved and painted my toe nails. The only thing the staff commented on was my nail polish.

And not all women shave because of porn. Some of us have minds of our own. And if I recall correctly, when I first shaved, women in porn mags still had a full bush. I wouldn't swear to it though as I only ever saw the one.

i am 37+2 so waiting for d-day
i have had a brazilian. that is what i usually have so decided to have it for labour so i feel more comfortable. i would say to go with your usual method of tidying tbh. if you do nothing then you don't want to trim/wax drastically as that could make you uncomfortable. i am reliably informed by the midwives that they have sern it all!

It's strange how we all see this so differently, being 38 (wonder if age makes a difference) I would be horrified for a medical practitioner to see anything other than tidy natural.
Or is that just me?

I'm older than you NaturalBlonde so maybe not.

I had a Hollywood at 38 weeks but i do have them regularly. Do it if you want to, i just find it cleaner and it's what i wanted. You won't have so many opportunitys for beauty treatments after the birth!

I have read in some places that some removal yourself may be preferable in the event of a EMCS rather than a midwife with a single blade bic getting stuck in (in terms of grow back)?

I had a wax a week or so before birth as I have them regularly anyway. She took a bit more off the top than usual in case I ended up with a section. Also, I wanted to have one as I didn't know how soon after birth I'd feel
up to going back again and do like to keep down there not looking like the Amazon!

As a health professional though, I can promise that the state of your downstairs hair situation will not even register with the midwives/doctors!

I didn't bother with dc1 but I had to get stitches and as the were coming out the were getting caught in my hairs so with dc2 I got waxed and I much preferred it .

I always get the regions waxed anyway. I had an elcs so just asked her to take and extra inch off top of 'landing strip'
I know everyone says 'no one cares' mw....dr etc but If I had that chosen career.... I think I'd prefer to work in tidier 'areas'.