I just found this interesting. I have never ever in my entire life been as thirsty as I was when in labor with Leanna. 8 hours with no food or water is a long time, especially while your body is performing "labor." And for those of you who don't know, it really is work. The doctor would allow nothing but ice chips(which don't do crap!). It was really really horrible. I had no desire to eat, but I could have leaped hurdles if it would have given me water! Though someone commenting on the post pointed out that even if the mother doesn't want food(light food) during a long labor it can be a long time for the fetus to have no nourishment also.
Blog: Navelgazing MidwifePost: Barfing in LaborLink: http://observantmidwife.blogspot.com/2006/09/barfing-in-labor.html
In my experience, women in the hospital barf a whole lot more than women in home births. It makes perfect sense! Women in the hospital are starved! Women in the hospital have hypoglycemia which causes nausea which brings on vomiting. Women at home are encouraged to eat to hunger, even if it is simply nibbling. Those women who aren't very hungry are nudged towards eating something because they start to complain of nausea. Once they have eaten something, miraculously, their nausea disappears.Do women who eat in labor throw up? Sure. Do women who don't eat not throw up? Sure.But, by far, I see it as a definite cause and effect of no food = nausea/vomiting. (I also know I would much rather throw something up than nothing. But that's just me.)That doctors continue saying digestion stops in labor is absurd. Oh, that's right, MIDWIVES say that, too! A local midwife just said that this week here! It might slow. But stop? C'mon. Why would it stop? Does elimination? No. Doctors have a vested interest in keeping women NPO (nothing by mouth) - they are easier/safer to anesthetize that way (supposedly). Why a midwife would want a woman to not eat is beyond me.I believe doctors who continue the old saw that women in labor shouldn't eat simply have no experience with women who have. Just like a lot of other things like women who walk or squat or not have IVs or moan or or or.Rise up and eat women! Barf no more.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I didn't get nauseated with any of my labors.....and the last one was with a mid-wife. I could eat there and tried but when I bit into my McDonalds Hamburger I couldn't eat.....and the midwife told me that that is because your stomach closes up when you're in labor, it takes everything to get that baby out and that made sense to me......however, afterwards was very different...at my hospital births, after my children were born, I would shake like crazy....they would put blankets on you but it took a while till your body calmed down. That was explained to me as your body going into shock after carrying around this baby inside for 9 months and then it's gone. At the midwife's--I drank coke and there was a little shaking but nothing like what I went through in the hospital. And that was probably because I could drink coke. Which is funny because I had no appetite to eat but could drink...hmmmmmmm....
Did you read her post? She addresses that. Digestion slows down but doesn't stop.
Post a Comment