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Pregnancy

The sieve!!

33 replies

Meringue33 · 03/10/2012 22:48

Just been to a water birthing lecture and I have to ask - is the sieve really for that purpose?!!! And how likely actually is it that I might do a poo right there in front of everyone and that my DP would have to scoop it out?! This is really my room 101 :(

OP posts:

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5madthings · 05/10/2012 18:34

nope they dont do enemas in the uk anymore there is no need and i think many women found them unpleasant and undiginfied?

anyway 5 babies here, no poo with no 1, with no 2, 3 and 4 i pooed a LOT in early labour but i managed to get to the toilet, not pleasnat sat on the toilet having contractions but it was fine. with dd i think i pooed a bit as her head crowned and they just wiped it away.

i had ds4 in the pool and had pooed LOTS just before i got in the pool and idont recall them having to use the seive, and dp has never mentioned it! i was only in the pool for 40mins before he was born tho, and didnt have to push he delivered himself all 10lb 13oz!

but yes lots of women poo in early labour and at delivery as the baby presses down and will clear our your bum passage! but honestly you may not even notice and its all dealt with very discreetly, as your baby comes down the birth canal you WILL feel like you are pooing even if you are not, there is a certain point when it literally feels like your baby will come out your bum! but its all good really!and you wont care at that stage or once baby is born, they will clean up any mess and you will be too busy cooing over baby to care xxx good luck :)

ContinentalKat · 05/10/2012 18:30

I thought it was ok, at least you weren't worried about pooing any more...
Mind you, dc2 was so quick we didn't have time for an enema, and that was ok as well.

chipsandmushypeas · 05/10/2012 18:26

Apparently that was done as standard Kat a few years ago, doesn't seem to anymore. Makes sense though

ContinentalKat · 05/10/2012 18:25

I gave birth abroad and had an enema when I got into hospital. Is that not done here?

Couchsweetpotato · 05/10/2012 18:18

Also, you might not poo! I didn't. It's fairly common to have diarrohea either just before labour starts or during it, and that cleans you out nicely.

chipsandmushypeas · 05/10/2012 18:15

My sister tore like a mother because she was trying to hold the poo in but push the baby out! Ridiculous. Let it all out I say, who cares!

merrygiant · 05/10/2012 17:59

I can confirm that it is very common to poo in labour. I'm a midwife, and delivered a baby earlier today to a woman who had a good ol' dump just as her baby's head was crowning.
As others have said, at this point, its the last thing on your mind. Although I've had SO many conversations with women who are terrified of this happening and appalled that their partners might witness it.
The sieve is a handy midwife's tool, you can scoop it up often without the woman even realising.
If you are really squeamish about it, have your baby on all fours or kneeling forward on the bottom of the pool. That way anything that comes out can be quietly dealt with behind your back.
I'm actually 5weeks preggers myself right now and have suddenly found that I can't handle women vomitting. I always used to be fine but not at the moment. I had to turn around to wretch the other day and I think the dad thought I was being really unhelpful!

newtonupontheheath · 05/10/2012 15:00

I didn't have a water birth...

Did do a poo though. Had no idea I had done!

Mentioned it to DH afterwards and he said "yes, a little bit of poo did come out" "I didn't mind though"
Thanks DH.... Too kind!

Sparklyboots · 05/10/2012 13:53

I think I pood virtually all the way through my labour. I didn't really seem to mind at the time, but I am blushing as I write this.

ZuleikaD · 05/10/2012 12:04

They don't wipe you, IME - everything's so widespread at that point that there's little, er, detritus. They've usually got paper mats spread on the floor or bed so it all just gets whipped away.

growyourown77 · 05/10/2012 11:40

phew! and bless them for doingit - who'd want that job!

HeffalumpsAndGoldenWoozles · 05/10/2012 11:35

If on the bed yes they'll just quickly wipe it all away. No need in the water that does the job for them.

It's really not a big deal at all even though it sounds gross, they've seen it all and worse before and you'll be so focused on meeting your little one you won't notice, or even if you do you won't care :)

growyourown77 · 05/10/2012 11:00

if you do poo in childbirth (water or non-water) do they wipe you? it just occurred to me - otherwise it would stink!

sammyleh · 05/10/2012 10:31

I'm intending on a water birth too, and to be honest I think doing massive fart or poo would be quite funny. I laugh at my own embarrassments all the time anyway because I'm so clumsy and daft at times. I've just come to the conclusion that I'll be sharing the pool with more than just my baby anyway, might as well embrace the silliness.

CailinDana · 05/10/2012 07:09

It really will be fine Meringue. I know from a distance it seems awful and embarrassing but it's really hard to describe the feeling and atmosphere in the room when a baby is about to be born - it's amazing and exciting and things like blood and poo really aren't an issue at all. Your DP will be so amazed to see his child come out of you (and it really is so so amazing and weird) that any amount of poo won't make a difference to him. I would lay money that you'll be lying there with your gorgeous bundle and suddenly think "Oh, did I poo?" and not even know!

HeffalumpsAndGoldenWoozles · 04/10/2012 23:57

dogsmum I'm so glad I've already had my water birth, the risk of fart bubbles never occurred to me!

Orenishii · 04/10/2012 23:14

Dogsmom I was just saying that EXACT same thing to DH...a poo could just slip out, bob away quietly, to be sieved out discretely.

A forcibly expelled fart will loudly announce itself and create waves bubbles.

Goodbye, dignity!

Meringue33 · 04/10/2012 21:52

Omg omg omg. Thanks guys, I guess :( Starting to wish it was like the old days and he would just wait outside the room with a cigar!!

OP posts:

Dogsmom · 04/10/2012 08:31

You can either poo in the bath or on a bed, lol, the midwives really wont care, my main worry isn't a poo it's doing a big fart, they seem so much louder in water and send bubbles rising.

PickleSarnie · 04/10/2012 08:16

I'm not sure it would be possible to pop a baby out without pooing. As zuleika says, its a very similar action and, if there's anything waiting to come out, it'll come out.

Midwives see it all the time though and you'll forget about it once you see your baby.

ZuleikaD · 04/10/2012 06:39

It's a lot more than 50% of births that involve pooing. You have to use the same muscles and you're pushing in the same direction so it's highly unusual not to poo. The sieve is also if you're sick in the pool, as I was.

geologygirl · 04/10/2012 00:17

I thought ds was arriving. Looked down in water and there was a huge turd.

Midwife scooped it away.

I did not care. Was just gutted when I realised I had a lot more work to do...

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HeffalumpsAndGoldenWoozles · 03/10/2012 23:54

I knew I'd pood first time, twice, midwives were very discrete and it was wiped away immediately although not before DH had noted similarity to play doh for later mickey taking

Second birth was in the pool, DH says yes I did but I had no idea. The sieve was used.

Neither time could I have cared less, the point at which you poo is usually as baby's head is getting very close to emerging, that is a sufficient distraction

CailinDana · 03/10/2012 23:34

I definitely pooed. Copiously. I didn't give a shit (only in figurative terms, in literal terms I very much did indeed give plenty of shit).

JarethTheGoblinKing · 03/10/2012 23:33

"Honestly you're so caught up in the labour that white doves could shoot out your arsehole and you'd just go "oh" and carry on!"

^^ this.

and

and if a bomb had gone off in the room I wouldn't have noticed! I was having my own happy little rave while off my tits on G&A. The various monitors were clicking and beeping away in such a pleasant rhythm.. All I cared about was access to water and the chair I was leaning on.

(DP swears I didn't poo. I think he's lying)

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