Shellac in hospital

[Stargazer87]

Random question but I heard somewhere that you can't have shellac on your nails when you go into hospital to give birth? Is that true??

I had it on when I gave birth and had been hooked up to monitors for 48 hours before baby was born and nothing said. I went back in a week later and needed a general anaesthetic to have retained placenta removed and same polish was still on. As there was a reasonable growth between polish and finger showing a good bit of nail (I was in no state to even consider removing or picking off after almost a week in hospital) they didn’t need me to remove. Had it been fresh on with no nail showing it would have had to come off.

I asked my midwife this (last year) and she laughed and said it was fine to have gels.

I was told on ante natal (by an ex midwife) that they prefer no nail varnish as it can affect the monitoring they do by putting something on your finger.

But I had bright red sparkly gel nails done 2 days before labour and I didn't need to take any off. I was prepared to peel off 1 nail if I had to though. Monitoring would've been more important than a perfect manicure.

@stargazer87 try and contact your hospital

There are mixed messages. It seems to be ideal that you dont have any shellac on, but there are ppl with it on who need EMCS and its fine. I emailed my maternity unit to confirm and they said its ok but your hospital may be different so contact them.

It's about not being able to see when your oxygen levels drop and your nail bed starts changing colour. Nothing to do with reading anything electronically.

@Bloomburger is right. I really wouldn’t recommend it, especially on toes x

I was told this about 18 years ago. The medics can apparently tell if your oxygen levels drop from the colour of your nail beds.

BS @October2020

I had shellac on my fingers and toes and it was fine. My midwife even said it looked lovely

Honestly, this must be your first baby coming.

I wish I had time to ponder this...

@lillythepink32 thats so rude and unkind.

I know it may seem trivial to some but for me having my nails done is just the norm and makes me feel like myself, I go to get them done every fortnight and it's just a little thing which makes me feel nice so I just wanted to know if I need to stop getting them done as my due date approaches...

I asked my midwife a couple of weeks before my due date and she said it was fine to leave them on - I guess every hospital is different 🤷‍♀️

In both my pregnancies I had acrylic nails with shellac over, the only comments I got off midwives were them telling me they loved them!

@Stargazer87 it's not trivial, as I said I got mine done 2 days before DD arrived (and I had my eyebrows done!) because I wanted them to look nice for Christmas (dd was born a week before) and knew I wouldn't get them done in that week!

@lilythepink32 it's rather ironic that you berate the OP for having time to ponder this, yet you have time to post an irrelevant comment on a thread...

*Honestly, this must be your first baby coming.

I wish I had time to ponder this...*

I'm having my second and still get my nails done every 2-3 weeks.

@lilythepink32

BS *@October2020*

I had shellac on my fingers and toes and it was fine. My midwife even said it looked lovely

Absolutely not BS. Pulse oximeters can give inaccurate readings with nail varnish. And as has been said, it's easy to see if a patient is 'pink' by looking at nails.

Sometimes you cannot get an accurate reading with certain colours and especially thick gel or acrylics, not too much of an issue if you can see that someone is nice, pink and well oxygenated. However extremely irritating when someone is becoming unwell and you're trying to find the friggin acetone to ensure your getting a good 02 trace!

Personally wouldn't bother, would rather the professionals weren't wasting time trying to remove shellac if they had to🤦🏼‍♀️

I've had mine done specially for each birth (because you can't get it done for weeks after with a baby glued to you) and noones ever said anything. Same with most of my friends. Must depend on area

Midwife here. If you’re happy to take the risk that if we need to use an oximeter and it doesn’t work, we might have to use horrible acetone nail polish remover, or put it on your ear, then it’s fine. Generally it’s not a massive issue.

@lilythepink32 i’ve had four babies and every time i had fresh gel nails. don’t know what point you were trying to make...

@sunshineandshowers21 clearly that she's a more dedicated mother than those of us who have time for such fripperies

I had a midwife appointment today and so asked the question about shellac, was told that it's absolutely fine, as long as they can access one nail like a toe nail then they haven't got a problem with it. I'll continue to get my nails done guilt free! 💅🏼