Bowel Clear out pre-labour

[EdithGrantham]

Has anyone NOT had this? I'm due in the next week or so and have heard it's a common early sign but I've been having to take lactulose which (TMI warning) has been making my bowel movements both regular but also rather bulky. I have got over my worry about pooing in labour as it's so common but I'm worried I won't have that early clear out then any bowel movement in childbirth is going to be huge, don't want to put DH or midwives through having to see that lol

I didn't notice any odd bowel movements but did give birth 3 weeks early.

The midwifes are so cool and calm, they barely acknowledge that you poo in labour. They change the pad often and you carry on
Did I poo during labour? I think so... No one told me and you really can't feel it.

No worrying allowed! Do tell th MW when you are in early labour if you need a poo, that was the sensation for me that I was very dilated.

I think I did both times but it's really not a big deal. Don't worry about it.

Thanks both, as I say I've got over the idea of pooing at all, it's if it's a monster poop I would be worried (not sure what I'd be worried about, not a lot I can do I guess!)

My DH only advises others to not look at the placenta, that traumatised him! 😂

I disappointingly didn't have a bowel clear out before either of my labours.

I know it's easy for me to say now, but really don't panic about pooing during labour. There is nothing you can do to stop it and the midwives see it all the time. Although saying that, before both births I did swear my dh to secrecy and I told him that if I poo'd during labour then I wanted him to pretend that it hadn't happened and never mention it to me EVER again. And he has stuck by that for the last 8 years until about two weeks ago when he made a little joke about it (prompted by something else we were laughing about). But I think I'm over the embarrassment now as I managed to muster a small smile 😂

It’s quite amazing how you can poo in labour and not feel a thing because the pressure next door is overwhelming. Tbh anecdotally, your bowel movements change towards end of pregnancy anyway to reflect the lack of room in your abdomen. Were you prescribed lactulose, or are you taking this off of your own back for bowel clear outs?

Nope I pooped in the house in the first stages of labour then again in the midwives faces when I was pushing.

They didn’t even make a thing, it all went under the radar whisked away before anyone could even see.

You’ll be fine.

I didn't have any big clear out in the lead up to labour, but once my waters had broken, I couldn't stay off the toilet! So I definitely cleared myself out in the run up to labour 😂

This is maybe TMI but the night I went into labour I woke up and needed a poo, it was late so I didn't even put the bathroom light on but it just kept coming out of me (sorry) to the point that when I eventually finished I put the light on to look and (oh god I'm sorry but this still amazes me) it was piled high out of the water!! If it wasn't so gross I'd have woken XH to look at the size of it, it was like an elephant poo! Two hours later my waters broke.

There had been no change to my poos at all leading up to that point so it may still happen OP

@Thack, DH has already said there's no way he's looking at the placenta if he can avoid it!

@Etceteraaah I think that is a good pact to make lol!

@Awarsewolf I've always been irregular and pregnancy has made it worse, midwife suggested dried fruit and increased fibre and then to ask for prescription if no improvement, the hassle of getting an appointment to get a prescription didn't seem worth it to me so have just been buying it myself. I've tried reducing the amount I take but If I skip a day of taking it or take less than the max dose I'm then not able to go for two days and when I do go it takes a day or two to get back to "normal"

Thanks everyone else as well, to be honest @BluebellsareBlue that's what I'm hoping is going to happen as would rather it happen on the toilet at home than in the birthing pool!

With both of mine, the bowel clear out happened when I was in labour (but long before the pushing stage). I don't think I pooed during the birth.
With DC1 I was induced and once the contractions got going, I spent the next 2 hours glued to the loo. Baby was born 9 hours later.
With DC2, I went into spontaneous labour about 3am and spent the hours between 5-7am back and forth to the bathroom. The baby was born at 11am.

I was constipated during my induction but I'm 90% sure I shit giving birth I really don't know how anyone doesn't.

I didn't have a clear out ahead of either of my labours and pooed both times. I was very aware of pooing in both my labours but the midwives/DH were very good at not making a big deal about it

I'm pretty sure I shat during labour. There was a lot of rustling going on down that end. The midwife denied it bless her.

No natural emptying of poo before birth or during labour for any of my 3 births but the midwife for DC2 insisted on an enema while I was in the early stages of labour. It was the quickest and least painful labour I had - so perhaps a clear out (natural or other wise) before hand is a good thing.

Thanks for all the new replies, I guess the thing I'm worried about, which I don't know how I'd find out anyway, is the midwives using me as some sort of anecdote "Do you remember that woman who did the biggest poo we'd ever seen!?"

With my first, a few hours before my labour started I had an enormous clearout. It was was fearsome!! I've never known anything like it before or since. It must have done the job because despite this happening in the early hours of Saturday morning and my DS not being born until Sunday evening, there wasn't so much as a skid mark to be seen during the labour or pushing stage.

With my second DS I was awaiting this magnificent purge once again but it never happened 😔

Haha thanks @Woahbodyforrrrm, if there is anything that midwife and DH has to see I will get over it but hoping not to have the massive clearout in the middle of pushing baby out

I did a normal poo in early labour, nothing like the massive clear out I’d anticipated.

I didn’t poo during labour either. I was in a birth pool at home so DH would have noticed them fishing it out.

@Woahbodyforrrrm you do realise I sang your username

I didn't have this at all.

I did with my first born, didn’t with my second

Yes I pooed myself during labour with my second born but the midwife just discreetly wiped it away and by then I really didn’t give a shit (pun intended ) as I just wanted baby out

I do remember DH pointing out the little fishing net by the birthing pool when we had our tour of the hospital as part of our ante natal class!

@EdithGrantham I didn’t poo for 36 hours before the start of my induction so was assuming the poor midwives were in for a right time of it when I started pushing 🙈🤣 but I also didn’t poo during labour (lord knows how 😅🤣)
Far far tmi but my clear out came in the form of golf ball shaped and sized poos (many of them 😬) about 2 hours after I’d delivered 😬😐😳
It was an experience 😬