Poo in childbirth

[Georgyporky]

"My midwife says most women poo during childbirth, "

Didn't want to derail the thread that contained this quote, but I was horrified.
I was given an enema. When I asked why, I was told it was for hygiene purposes & I would not want my baby covered in shit (or words to that effect).

Seems very sensible to me. Is it not usual practice in UK now ?

I have two children and I pooed both times 😅
I was very aware and very embarrassed but they made no fuss about it and it was no big deal. I doubt they'd be in that profession if they cared about that stuff.
Your baby is literally exiting your body. Cut yourself some slack!

I can’t imagine trying to pause Labour for an enema or shaving. I was 8cm when I got to the delivery room and just needed to get that baby out!
I went straight into a birth pool and no idea if I pood but the water was pretty gross after anyway. Ds and I both cleaned up right away so don’t think it was too unhygienic.

I didn't poo with either of mine. DD1 however poo'd on the way out poor thing.

Me too 🙈. So painful

I've read that the baby gets important bacteria from mothers gut flora via the poo,which then kick starts the baby's own gut biome.

Uh labour is a long process and your can open your bowls early on before birth of the baby.
And it depends on the position. If you are standing then no. Of your on all 4s then maybe yes and it woupd have to be diarrhea.

Having an enemia days before labour won't do anything but make you super uncomfortable

You know they have little nets to collect up any floaters if you go for a water birth. 🤭

Sounds grim and part of the reason I had an ELCS. I know pooing in childbirth is perfectly normal but it's also become one of those long-running jokes about nasty things about pregnancy, or being a woman in general, that we are just supposed to put up with and shrug it off. It feels somehow odd and misogynistic that it's perfectly acceptable for a woman defecate in a room full of people watching them. Normal or not, it's a demeaning experience even when seen in the context of birth. In contrast, imagine a successful, self-respecting, good looking man being forced to shit himself in front of strangers. And then having all his friends and family know about it and having no choice but to laugh it off. Imagine this happening to all male CEOS, managers, entrepreneurs. It simply would not be a thing. Or socially acceptable in any way. But women in the process of birth are demeaned to a mere body and all their bodily functions fair game. They are expected to laugh off injuries, embarrassment, indignities and do mental gymnastics to justify what is objectively a pretty humiliating experience. I daresay if every man had the option to avoid being forced to poo uncontrollably in front of a room full of people, the vast majority would take it up. The csection rate would probably be 80%

Enema was the norm when I had the first baby in '86, as was shaving pubic hair (and episiotomies) leading to uncomfortable itching while stitches were healing.
By '89 with my number 2, neither of these were done. Not sure if it was a policy change as it was in a different health trust.
I can't imagine the staff having time to do these things anyway nowadays.

Had 4 in 1960s. Enemas each time,

I know this is slightly off topic, but am I the only one who pissed themselves slightly with every contraction?

Honestly it was the last thing on my mind when trying to breathe through the horrendous pain and push a baby out. Childbirth is very messy and that's just one part of it.

I shat during birth with dc2, it was quite a long and traumatic labour so I didn't care. The midwife just cleaned up

I think I did but then I used to piss myself all the time when i was pregnant. Didn't bother me. After I got my waters popped in 2nd labour oh my word the amount of liquid that came out, strangest feeling ever! But I was off my tits on the gas and air and thought it was hilarious.

Having had an enema for a different reason in the past, I found that far, far more horrifyingly embarrassing and uncomfortable than passing a bit of poo whilst in labour!

I can't imagine the double uncomfortable whammy of having an enema while in active labour!

I was the same as @BlueScrunchies and it being my first baby I had no idea what to expect…I honestly took HOURS before I realised actually I don’t have food poisoning / a sickness bug, I’m in labour

Even then I only twigged cus the pain ramped up

You’d think at 13 days late I’d have realised, but no, no I did not

Baby then shit HIMSELF, so off to EMCS we went 😂

I didn't have to poo uncontrollably in a room full of strangers. I didn't poo while giving birth and secondly for most of my labour was just me and DP in room then at the end 2 female midwives. I felt nothing other than supported and empowered by them. Nothing humiliating in the slightest.
And my DP has suffered with some digestive problems and I don't think any less of him for it. Plenty of men have to undergo medical treatments for one thing or another. A good HCP will treat all humans with dignity.
Giving birth is by its very nature a bloody and visceral process, with a lot of body fluids. I see nothing wrong with reframing it and having some humour over the whole situation, for me personally at least.
I'm glad you got your EMCS though if that's what helped you and made you feel better about it all.

I can't imagine that an enema is conducive to trying to reduce stress in labour 🙈

It’s only a long running joke if you’re a child. Nobody is asking a woman who just gave birth if she shit herself. And if you are, you need to work on how you handle yourself in social situations.

I get that you had a ELCS, partly because you didn’t want that, that’s fine. But you don’t get to make up what happens in a delivery room when you weren’t in one. You’re not forced to shit yourself. It’s not a case of the midwives stopping you going to bathroom and leave you in a room to defecate in a corner while they watch taking bets on what it’ll look like. Midwives will ask if you need the toilet regularly and encourage you to go for a wee to protect your bladder. It sometimes happens that if you are pushing a big head down your birth canal, a bit of poo might come out. The room isn’t full of a bunch of people. The pooing stage is likely to be your birthing partner and one midwife, who handles it discreetly and changes your bedding. But they’ll also change your bedding if your waters have gone or it’s getting a bit sweaty. It in no way felt demeaning. Being wheeled from antenatal to delivery with a sheet wrapped around me in the middle of a big contraction felt demeaning but my body doing what it’s meant to do and making space for my baby’s head to move down the birth canal wasn’t.

Also, good looking, successful men have shit themselves. Not whilst pushing a baby out of their body obviously but they have still shit themselves when they’ve had stomach bugs. Some good looking successful men will have crohns or IBS and they’ve shit themselves. Good looking, successful men have had stoma bags and had leaks. It doesn’t make them less successful or less good looking or whatever worth you’re attributing to man because he’s apparently not shitting himself. Because they are. Again, if someone mentions they’ve had a stomach bug or have a stomach/bowel related illness you know they’ve probably shit themselves at some point but you don’t point it out to them or laugh at them. They’re not a running joke. People shit themselves but of all the occasions you could shit yourself, in a room with a discreet midwife and clean bedding when you’re wholly focussed on something else, that’s probably one of the better ways to do it.

The first symptom that labour was about to start for me was spending ages on the loo with loose bowels. It was like nature was doing a natural cleanse .

With dd1 the midwife very quickly and professionally removed the poo from the pool apparently, I hadn't even known it was happening but dp mentioned it he thought it was a very well practiced skill the midwife had 😂😂 don't think it happened with dd2 though. I thought most women did in labour 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’ve had four DC, 2 of which I have pooed whilst pushing. That was one of the things that shocked me the first time how anal it felt it did feel like a giant poo. The first time the MW dealt with it, the second time DH did. DH wasn’t bothered at all by it he said “it’s amazing watching a baby come out of you, a bit of poo is nothing!” DH actually caught DD3s head as I was so fast that the MW hadn’t got her gloves on yet (home birth).

I found the lying in stirrups being stitched up with 6 people looking at your torn up vadge more upsetting than shitting myself really.

DC2 1995 I had an enema. For the 2 babies either side I did not. I have to say the enema birth was by far the easiest and quickest - I don't think I had time to poo. I don't know about the 2 non enema births because it wasn't mentioned by either midwife or DH and I'm going to ask him.

Also, good looking, successful men have shit themselves. Not whilst pushing a baby out of their body obviously but they have still shit themselves when they’ve had stomach bugs. Some good looking successful men will have crohns or IBS and they’ve shit themselves.

This has absolutely nothing to do with stoma bags or bowel conditions, which affect both genders in equal measure. No idea how you got that metaphor from. It's safe to say that only the most heinous of trolls would make fun of a colorectal cancer patient or someone with a serious bowel disease.

However pooing yourself in childbirth is something that uniquely affects women but it's also uniquely socially acceptable to talk about and always in a way that frames it as an amusing, silly or trivial experience. There's another active thread right now about a women who is distressed that her husband keeps bringing up the fact they didn't clean her poo away for ages during childbirth.

It boils down to personal dignity and bodily autonomy. My point is that men are given far more choice and sacrosanctity over their bodies. They are not expected to go through a "rite of passage" which involves shitting themselves in a room full of strangers and expected to be perfectly fine with that. Men get the choice to preserve their dignity on a much higher level compared to women. That fuels the power of the patriarchy because the majority of men (especially successful ones, hence why I mentioned it) project an untouchable aura. It would be absolutely taboo to talk the about the CEO of a major corporation pooing himself during a medical emergency.

However any woman, regardless of how successful, will be reduced to a bodily vessel during childbirth where having someone cleaning up your poo is perfectly normal and something you need to accept and be happy with.

As a midwife a bit of poo doesn’t bother me in the slightest, I couldn’t think of anything worse than giving women an enema routinely!
I was at a homebirth today, no poo!