Showering after birth...

[JWandBump]

About an hour after having baby they made me have a bath (OH helped me in and out) then the day after I had a shower (again I couldn't of done it without OH)

 

[flubdub]

lol
It must be just me, but it never even crossed my mind about putting showering into my birth plan!! I just showered and cleaned up as soon as I was able to!
Rx

Haha no id never put it in my birth plan! That's like putting that you'd like a drink after labour in your birth plan.

 

[aliss]

Hi Sue,

For my home birth, I spent the entire time in the shower actually, I was the most sparkling clean thing until all that gunk started flying out!!! Y

You probably won't want to get up & into the shower right away and the midwives will not recommend it. They will prefer (and you probably will too) to lay on the bed for at least an hour as the afterbirth (and I mean after the placenta) is still constantly falling out. They will want to examine your belly over and over again to ensure everything comes out right, nothing left behind. I think they were more careful about this because they generally only stayed a few hours (3, for me) until you were left alone for the day.

It will be a bit too sore to get up at first. I think it's very reasonable to want a shower as soon as you can stand though, which might be up to 3 hours. It's hard to say - the best part of a home birth is that you feel very relaxed after since you are in your element. You may want to jump in right away, or not. I would take it as it goes.

 

[Chellxx]

Ive been in the shower within an hour with both mine, you feel gross and they want to clean the bed etc so it was a nice time for dh to have skin to skin and me to freshen up for 5 mins

 

[Guppy051708]

I showered within an hour or two of my first birth. It really wasn't a big deal at all. I opted out of showering with my second birth bc of a tradition that i wanted to observe that requires no showering for a length of time for bonding purposes. It worked really well, but as far as showering after the birth, it's not hard at all to do nor do i feel like it's an outrageous or unrealistic request. Plus birth can be messy, i was pretty much required to shower (hospital birth with DS1) bc i had a water birth and he pooped on the way out so that was all over me. then i birthed the placenta on the bed but i had PICA and lost the max amount of blood, so there was that huge mess too. So showering was pretty much needed with that birth. The nurse stayed with me and held me up and such bc my iron levels were so low, i had a high blood volume loss, and my birth was a brutal 30.5 hour back labor hell so i was so tired and weak, it could have been unsafe on my own. The nurse helped and that was fine and worked out great.

 

[xsadiex]

I had a bath about an hour after, the midwife ran it for me, I was at home though - not sure if that makes a difference x

 

[rowleypolie]

I sponged off but waited to shower 24 hours, doc said something about baby recognizing my scent

 

[ajarvis]

I personally wouldn't worry about putting it in your birth plan. Once the baby is there you're free to do what you want. If you can go shower do, but if you can't don't worry about it. I could barely hold my oldest son after his birth as it was a long hard 30 hrs of labour. However after my youngest I was just fine. So just go with the flow

 

[sue_88]

Thanks everyone, really nice to hear everyones experiences!

I'm not writing a birth plan, I have written some preferences. And the reason I am putting it in is because I would like to ensure a midwife knows this what I would like to aim for and is around to help me (if I am feeling up to it) because I am by myself as I have no OH.

As Aliss said, the MW dont tend to stay that long after a homebirth so I don't really want to be left, still covered in gunk with only my mum around and the new baby.

Like I say though, it's preferences, not a plan so happy to deviate where needs be. Depends on the day I guess! I'll be keeping it where it is though

 

[Anthrogirl]

After about an hour of skin on skin with both my 1st and 2nd I was up (slowly) and in the shower (carefully). Felt awesome.

 

[cupcake0406]

Sorry, I don't want you to be under the impression as a pp has said that the afterbirth will continue to fall out after the delivery of the placenta and the midwives will repeatedly check as this isn't the case. As long as the placenta is delivered complete as are the membranes there should be nothing coming out but lochia (blood). The midwives will check that your fundus is hard and contracting (which it should be provided there are no retained products). And if there is anything else coming out then it shouldn't be so midwives need to be told. So again there would be no reason after skin to skin why you couldn't clean yourself up sure you will find what you're comfortable doing anyway xx

 

[Annie77]

The shower after birth is the best ever. As a pp said, there are some thoughts about scented shower gel/shampoo etc ruining your scent but I have never found this a problem. Then again I use pretty neutral scented stuff and stand for ages after rinsing.

 

[aliss]

^^Sorry I do mean lochia coming out, not placenta

 

[Serafina83]

At my hospital they make you have a bath after I had my baby at 1 in the morning had skin on skin baby was weighed I fed the baby and was stitched and was on the ward by half 3. So defiantly doable x

 

[Serafina83]

At my hospital they make you have a bath after I had my baby at 1 in the morning had skin on skin baby was weighed I fed the baby and was stitched and was on the ward by half 3. So defiantly doable x
Oh forgot to mention, my partner and baby came in bathroom with me whils a bathed

 

[xsadiex]

P.s if you do have a bath make sure someone goes into the bathroom with you, I was alone as I hated it, couldn't get out of the bath by myself and felt really dizzy. Felt so helpless!

 

[Mrs Cupcake]

i had a shower about 2 hours after the birth last time. no midwife around at all. just me hubby and baby. we left the baby in the glass crib and then he helped me have a shower. lucily or delivery room had an en-suite.

i felt extremely weak and had to be helped a lot. i sat on a little plastic seat they had in the shower as i couldnt stand up enough. i dont think i washed my hair, just a bit of a rinse. it was lovely to be clean and get into a clean bed.

i think most women would need help showering!

 

[aliss]

One thing to keep in mind, you don't really need a birth plan for a home birth. With a home birth, it's just whatever you choose to do. If you want a shower after, just ask. It's important to keep any birth plan as consise as possible or else important information might be skipped. Stick to what is critical and just do what you want when the time comes when it's stuff like showering, where to labour, where to push out, etc.

 

[AP]

I had skin to skin for about an hour. Sooo wasn't in the mood to get up and shower, that was too much thought

 

[melfy77]

I had an epidural and took a hot and much deserved (and needed) shower right after DD's first feed, so 1 hour later, while DH was holding her. It's not unrealistic at all!! Especially with a natural birth!! Believe me, you'll WANT that shower!!