Is it true that defecating pregnant women sometimes accidentally expel their newborn from their bodies, rather than the bowel movement, and the child can actually plop right into the toilet?
Conversely, can a woman who is attempting to give birth accidentally defecate while trying to push out the baby? Are either of these occurances common??
Thanks.
Not sure about the first, but (female) relatives have told me that your second scenario is a common occurrence, and “one of those things they never tell you about beforehand”.
Check this out.
I personally knew a girl who was in denial about being in labor.She thought she was constipated, even though she was nine months pregnant. She delivered the baby in the toliet. Fortunatly mother and baby were fine
I just asked an expert (Mrs. cornflakes, mother of two.) She confirmed my assumption that, apart from uterine contractions, the muscles used to deliver a baby are pretty much the same ones used to defecate. Labor could feel like “diarreah after constipation; that feeling of ‘ohmigod, I have to go!’”
Question #2 (so to speak)- yes, that happens all the time, if the mom has an epidural she might not even notice. The nurses just clean up and continue!
Question #1- yes, this can also happen. A friend’s daughter had this happen to her, in a bad way. ***TMI warning- this is bad! ***She was carrying twins when she went into hard labor at around 8 months IIRC. While going potty in between contractions, she lost the first baby in the toilet, but had the presence of mind to get him out of the toilet and take him to the hospital with her (an autopsy could determine why the twins died). She called 911 and they got her to the emergency room, but the second baby was stillborn.
She later told her father-in-law that having to scoop up your baby out of the toilet was something that you just can’t erase from your mind.
Yeah, no kidding…
This was largely why an enema was part of the pre-delivery ‘routine’, from at least the 1870s up until, in some hospitals, the 1970s. I’ve read accounts by mothers in the 1950s who gave themselves one before heading to the hospital, hoping to escape the embarassment, and were furious when the nurses insisted on administering another.
Yes it is true that some women sometimes pass some stool when pushing during delivery. Not a big deal.
It is also true that babies sometimes deliver when not expected.
I had one patient who went to sit on the toilet and delivered a foot and leg unexpectedly. I also had one who said she needed to have a bowel movement. She tried (unsucessfully) once and when she said she needed to try again, I checked her and found she was crowning already. Neither woman reported feeling or appeared to be undergoing the usual signs and symptoms of labor.
I want to clarify that I am a nurse, but not a labor and delivery nurse. My department (antepartum) tries to keep the kids in.
My motto: Never trust a preggnant woman 