Spinals and catheters?

[CormacksGirl]

O.k let me see if I can word this right.

For both my sons I had a spinal (first for delivery nearly c-section and second was after the birth for a third degree tear) Any way I had a catheter placed as I couldn't feel the need to pee, but what about needing to poo? I mean what if I needed to poo and didn't know? I don't think I had an enema or anything and if I had surely I would've been told?

Sorry if it is a stupid/gross question but it's been bugging me since my second delivery!

 

[MindUtopia]

This is really just a guess, but I'm assuming it's partly because we don't poo as often as we pee, and many women either have a clear out in early labour or poo during labour anyway, so there isn't really a need to be concerned about constipation during labour (if anything it's the opposite). With urine though, it's quite common to be unable to urinate after labour when the pelvic floor gets fatigued (this happened to me and I had a totally natural birth), and the build up of urine in the bladder can cause other problems, like an infection or preventing the placenta from being delivered. I'm assuming that's probably why there is more concern with making sure you are peeing regularly during birth (also, there's no real equivalent to a urinary catheter for your rectum). I had a catheter after I had my daughter (like I said, totally natural home birth with no pain relief) just because my pelvic floor was so tired I just couldn't empty my bladder on my own, so I think it's a common enough thing that it's better to have it in place so your bladder can regularly empty. It's probably also just more messy. If you were peeing every 15 minutes, you'd go through a lot of bed changes. But most women, if they poo at all during labour (I didn't), only do it once, so it's easier to change and clean up.

 

[CormacksGirl]

This is really just a guess, but I'm assuming it's partly because we don't poo as often as we pee, and many women either have a clear out in early labour or poo during labour anyway, so there isn't really a need to be concerned about constipation during labour (if anything it's the opposite). With urine though, it's quite common to be unable to urinate after labour when the pelvic floor gets fatigued (this happened to me and I had a totally natural birth), and the build up of urine in the bladder can cause other problems, like an infection or preventing the placenta from being delivered. I'm assuming that's probably why there is more concern with making sure you are peeing regularly during birth (also, there's no real equivalent to a urinary catheter for your rectum). I had a catheter after I had my daughter (like I said, totally natural home birth with no pain relief) just because my pelvic floor was so tired I just couldn't empty my bladder on my own, so I think it's a common enough thing that it's better to have it in place so your bladder can regularly empty. It's probably also just more messy. If you were peeing every 15 minutes, you'd go through a lot of bed changes. But most women, if they poo at all during labour (I didn't), only do it once, so it's easier to change and clean up.

Thank you that makes sense!

It was just one of things I thought about whilst lying in bed and it's been bugging me ever since.