contact lenses for childbirth?!

[miniegg]

basic question - can i wear contact lenses during childbirth? or will i have to wear my glasses?

yes you can ! I kept mine on until (after a very long drawn out process lasting a few days - I had taken them in and out to sleep and stuff) I had a c-sec and even then the anaesthetist said I could keep them in but to bear in mind I might not feel able to take them out afterwards so I took them out.

glasses. you get so tired and i found contacts a real irritant

glasses. to tired to worry about caring for my eyes.
besides, you dont realy need to be able to see to give birth

You can, but you might find they get a bit dry. Depends how easily you wear them usually, imo - you may find you're more comfortable in glasses if labour drags on for a while!

I can't remember what I did! How bizarre, but I really have no memory of whether I had glasses on or lenses in! I am assuming I must have had my glasses on and it was a long day, I slept on and off, had a c section and didn't go back to the ward until the early hours.

I have photos of me without glasses the next morning, presumably had lenses in by then.

I wore contacts for birth of first child (DS, now 4) and unfortunately had to have emergency C-section. Had to go under general anaesthetic so had to take them out which isn't so easy when you're being wheeled into operating theatre, mid-contraction. Nearly poked my eye into my brain.
Wore glasses for birth of DD last year...

wore glasses for dd1, bloody mw took them away from me and then accused me of looking unfocused (ahem!). contacts for dd2, much better (but then was only 1.45 mins long...) I suggest you wait and see, a lot depends on time of day...

take glasses as your eyes will get very dry

thanks everyone - will take both and see how it goes

I wore contacts for all 4 births. I didn't even have glasses as an option in those days. But that said, I have an amazing toleration of contact lenses and don't even know what it feels like to have dry eyes from over use. Take both just in case.

depends on your contacts methinks, ive got monthlys that i wear 24/7 for that month so im def wearing them, and it wont matter how long etc i have to wear them.

I have gas permeable lenses and wore them for childbirth - however I did find I needed glasses afterwards for doing night time feeds (before I got the hang of doing them in pitch darkness!)

I think I'm going to try with contacts. I hate wearing my glasses as they make me feel uncomfy and irritable so don't really want to add that to the pains of labour. Plus hoping for water birth so don't really want to wear glasses in the pool.
Will ob take glasses just in case but if I do have to wear them will put contacts in straight away after for photos! (Not vain or anything just HATE my glasses with a passion!)
XX

I only realised afterwards that mine had been in overnight when I gave birth - I was induced and it all happened quite suddenly! They certainly didn't check and ask me to remove them. I didn't find wearing them a problem during labour, there were plenty of other things going on to distract me!

Understand about glasses hatred, I normally never wear them in public but did wear them quite a bit on the ward afterwards.

Princesspowersparkle - I was thinking about this too. I wear daily disposables so they're easy to whip out if need be, I'm also hoping for a water birth and hadn't even thought about the glasses getting wet I had contemplated them steaming up with the effort though!

I wore my contacts for the birth of dd but before that had worn glasses when in labour with my ds's. I found wearing contacts much better plus i looked great in the photos lol. My waters had broke at 1.45am and putting my contacts in was my first priority I only wear dailies and so didnt have to faff about with solutions etc. It was great being able to see without worrying about my glasses falling off, getting wet (i had a waterbirth)

I wear Dailies and wore them for both (can't remember if I changed them during DS1's v long labour).
Aren't you being organised to even worry? I didn't even consider it, which goes for a lot of things!

Good luck!

I wore my disposable contact lenses but had spares in my labour bag - glad I did as labour lasted 36 hours and I was glad of a fresh pair after each period of 12 hours!!!

Hate glasses so I wore contacts in hospital all day long and it was absolutely fine.