Laxatives??? Definately TMI

OK so last time i was in labour for 50 hrs from the start of contractions to having my baby. I had a posterier labour, ended up having syto and a 3rd degree episiotomy due to forceps.
I wanted to go to the toilet the whole time but couldn't and the night after i had given birth and actually did go was horrendous. I was on the loo for over an hour in extreme pain and could hear my baby crying while dh was desperately trying to settle her.
So anyway fast forward to this pregnancy and i'm concidering taking laxatives when my waters break or i start contractions. I know that it used to be routine to give women laxatives but why did they stop doing this?
did anyone else decide to do this? Should i just try to take slippery elm or something every day to combat this or are over the counter tablets more effective?
Sorry this is embaressing but it troubles me almost as much as the actual birth part.
TIA

:hug: Oh hun that must have been awfully painfull. Are you constipated usually? I know when I was in labour with DS1 they gave me a sepositary(sp?) But I had already emptied my bowls in prelabour, with DS2 unfortunately there was not time so *TMI* I went before and while pushing......so maybe you could ask for one?
Sorry if this is no help hopefully someone better informed can come help!
Good luck xx

Thanks,
the midwife did give me a suppository at one stage but it obviously did nothing. I do get constipated during pg so that doesn't help.

Oh bummer maybe talk to your midwife and see if you can take anything....eat prunes or dried apricots and drink lots of water. Hopefully it wont be like last time xx

I had a lot of pain adn difficulty with bowel movements for a few weeks after having an episiotomy. That may have been a contributing factor in your problems. Talking to you midwife about it is a good idea too - the better things are moving before hand the better overall, probably.

i would discuss this with your care provider as it sounds like you need to know what action can be taken to help you to open your bowels if you were to go through a long and difficult labour (like it sounds like it was last time for you). I *think* that you can still request to have an enema, so maybe that could be an option for you in early labour...

There is also the real possibility that your next birth will not be so long and hard going and this in itself will mean that things will go much smoother in the bowel department! (this is what i found...my first few poos after my first birth were rather horrendous and drawn out and gave me cold shivers just thinking about, whereas after the second birth i didnt even register it as an 'event' lol...sorry for TMI lol!).

i reckon throw everything you have at it in preparation to labour and look into things such as 'directed pushing' vs 'breathing baby out' (the latter i did second time and this can prevent a WHOLE lot less stress on the whole pelvic floor area of which the bowel is all connected), and yeah, totally give the prunes a go lol!! i got bouts of constipation during pg and had a fair bit of dried fruit etc to 'help' things along lol.

goodluck with it all...i can totally understand...i too was nervous about the post birth pain factor this time around xx

double the love :loveshower:

maybe start eating sultana bran (or similar high fibre/bran type cereals) i've always had stubborn bowels and found during pregnancy its so much more uncomfortable and painful than normal, but even a small bowl of sultana bran most days seems to have worked wonders! Dont know if it will work the same for labour but unless you cant keep food down at the time theres no reason it shouldn't work?

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I am really hoping this birth will be an entirely different experience but it still lingers there. I have been taking benefiber which is a fibre drink so hopefully if i continue to do that then it will be ok.