# What else do pregnant women deliver? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 17, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-do-pregnant-women-deliver/521597 "2009-12-17T04:19:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-do-pregnant-women-deliver/521597/41 "2009-12-23T01:37:50Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > The baby can also be coated with a variable amount of [vernix.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernix_caseosa) I love how the Latin _vernix caseosa_ means “cheesy varnish” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-do-pregnant-women-deliver/521597/42 "2009-12-23T01:41:39Z")
Ah, vernix caseosa. It was considered a sign of good luck to deliver a cheesy baby here in Wisconsin. The “clean the baby up with crackers” jokes got old real fast, though. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-do-pregnant-women-deliver/521597/43 "2009-12-23T04:33:47Z")
The old battleax delivery room nurses claimed that they used to use vernix as hand cream. _Christ_, I hope they were kidding. ---
**Author:** ![pudytat72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@pudytat72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pudytat72)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-do-pregnant-women-deliver/521597/44 "2009-12-23T05:24:30Z")
> [@howye](#): > > Obligatory Scrubs quote: “You’ll fart, poop, pee, and scream, all in front of ten complete strangers, all of whom are staring intently at your vagina, which, by the way, has an 80 per cent chance of tearing.” I had both of my boys in the hospital I worked in , so they weren’t “complete strangers”, but at that point, I really didn’t care too much! It made for some amusing comments when I was pregnant and delivering babies. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-do-pregnant-women-deliver/521597/45 "2009-12-23T07:02:41Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > The old battleax delivery room nurses claimed that they used to use vernix as hand cream. _Christ_, I hope they were kidding. Probably not. My dad told me that his aunt–a midwife–saved it and used it as _face_ cream. :eek: On one hand I’m extremely icked out by that. _shudder_ On the other hand, Dad did say she had a lovely, soft complexion, so maybe she was onto something. (I think, though, that \*I’ll \*just stick with Oil of Olay!) ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-do-pregnant-women-deliver/521597/46 "2009-12-23T15:40:36Z")
> [@corvidae](#): > > Getting Pit after delivery is quite routine where I work as post-delivery management in firming up the fundus and hopefully assisting in avoiding a post partum hemorhage. I just had a C-section 10 days ago, and was given Pitocin afterwards to stimulate uterine contractions. I wonder, though, about the post partum hemmorhage–I was told I bled a bit more than normal and had to be given a medication that starts with M ( **Qag**? Care to weigh in?) to reduce the bleeding. I thought the Pit would be typical post-Cesarian, but now I wonder if it was more because of the bleeding. The Pitocin SUCKED as did the friggin’ sadistic nurse who kept coming in to “massage” (read: push and squeeze like it’s Play-Do) my belly post-op. It was so painful I screamed, repeatedly…and I delivered my first without pain meds without making that much noise. Only thing I can compare it to is the severe back pain I had prior to both of my spinal operations. When I woke up yelping and moaning in pain about 3 hours post op, they turned off the Pitocin and turned on the Demerol, and sleep and I found each other. Having had a C-section and a vaginal birth (which, yes, included poop, pee, hemmorhoids the size of kiwis, and a second degree tear), I gotta say–I don’t understand why _any_one in good health with an uncomplicated pregnancy would _choose_ a C-section. Yowsa. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-do-pregnant-women-deliver/521597.md?page=2)