drinking during labour?

[madremia09]

i had my last baby in spain and have moved back to the uk,due xmas day with dd no 2.in spain you are not allowed to drink any fluids during labour and i remember thinking i was going to die of dehydration.is it the same here? i dont even know why!
thanks

Ooh I had loads of cups of tea in the birthing pool! Only got told not to have any more drinks when it started looking like I would need emcs - then after the section I was not meant to drink for 2 hours but was sooooo thirsty I BEGGED for some water and eventually the nice anaesthetist let me have some. The thirst at that point is one of the things I remember most about the whole thing!

Have read you shouldn't drink too much though as it can weaken strength of contractions. Can't remember where, seem to think it was some proper science but no source for you.

The article still said you should drink, though, but sipping better than glugging.

I was in Derbys like you notasausage and took a whole pack-up!

I was encouraged to eat and drink during labour with DDs 1 and 2. DD1 ended up as an em c-s, and I had to drink some foul concotion (something citrate) because I had been eating and I also remember the aneasthetist pressing hard on my throat as he put me under (he did explain this was because of the danger of reflux).

Did not get to eat when labouring with DD3 (induced with synto and ever-present possibility of c-s) but was still encouraged to drink water.

I drank 2 pints of water during my 2.5hr labour with DS (homebirth), infact the MWs encouraged it. I forgot to wee though in the last 45mins so had to be catheterised to get the placenta out. Will DD (also a HB) the labour was 28hrs so I drank lots and ate food as well, MWs were suggesting food to keep my energy up. I ate a phenomenal amount of ginger biscuits

Its ridiculous to not eat and drink during labour. Think of the physical exertion you are putting yourself through and the calories you are burning off, you need fluid and energy to continue labouring. Midwives and Doctors who do not allow this should be shot.

Gosh I wouldn't have coped without my lucozade, glucose tablets and milk!

I had a home VBAC and drank 8 litres of bottled water followed by glasses of water so lost count???! Mad, can't believe how much I needed. The midwives were trying to tempt me to eat alsorts for the energy as I had a long labour, I think I only managed a tiny bit of toast and just ate loads of sweets!

Alana 39 that's really interesting as my contractions practically stopped during pushing stage and I only just got baby out before my 2 hr limit was up. One of the midwives used accupressure on my legs to stimulate the contractions and was very powerful!

It depends on the hospital. Evidence shows eating and drinking in normal labour to be beneficial as the uterus is a big muscle and a labouring woman is expending a lot of energy. Most women lose their appetite as labour progresses. Some hospitals like to restrict food and anything other than clear fluid in labour if it is abnormal in any way and there is any risk of a general anaesthetic (and should give IV fluids to compensate). This is due to something called Mendelson's syndrome whereby gastric contents are aspriated and can be fatal. However, this is based on very old research and has recently been shown to be more due to poor anaesthetic technique than food intake as there is no way of knowing how quickly the stomach empties food. And let's be honest if you were hit by a bus they wouldn't refuse to operate if you had had a mars bar 10 minutes ago would they? It is very outdated practice to restrict women in normal labour, and should not be tolerated.
Spain is well in the dark ages where childbirth is concerned isn't it? Jesus.