This kind of destructive “health care” is why I choose to birth at home. I wonder if this nurse actually believed this tripe?

Really. Why is it that the rules change all of a sudden in labor?
Before: no sugar! You will have GD and your baby will be huge and you won’t deliver it and …. Dead baby. Blah. Blah blah.

During labor: sugar is all you need.

Oh man. As someone who normally eats a Paleo type diet, I can’t even imagine how SICK that would make me. I will stick with my homemade chicken broth next time I’m in labor, as well as whatever I feel like eating at the time.

Of course, Samantha! Didn’t you know that labor induces immediate Opposite Day?

Before labor: no drugs! Your baby will come out defective! “Do not take if pregnant or nursing” warning – on bloody PRENATAL VITAMINS!

During labor: Bring it on! We’ll give you opiates on demand! IV, epidural, spinal, you name it! Problems with the meds? No worries, we can fix that… With more medication!

What’s worse is they probably *aren’t* actually giving sugar in the IV. They’re probably just using a saline solution.

So after I leave all I have to eat is Pixie Stix?

Never mind the vitamins, mineral, fats, proteins, amino acids, enzymes, water, and fiber sources that my body might need, sugar takes care of it all?

Great.

*yells into the hall* Your mental patients are escaping again!!!

I’m always just a little amused by how the IV is treated like the perfect substitute for food and drink. I was with a client when a nurse explained that her IV “has calories.” I wonder if she knows Mtn. Dew has calories too, but no one should be depending on those kind when going through such a physically demanding event as labor.

“Honey, just answer the question, don’t tell me what you want me to believe and don’t make up diminutive names to call me, mmkay?”

My favorite analolgy on just the IV is “asking a mother to go through labor without eating is like asking a marathon runner to do a 10 k without Gatorade”. IV. May give you hydration but it doesn’t give you energy and being a doula I have seen winded done by a sip of sprite or a bite of granola bar!!!!!

To save my life, I can not wrap my mind around how anyone could think that it’s okay to starve a woman when she’s doing such hard work! How can you expect a woman to have energy for labor and delivery if you don’t feed her?!

Can’t respond directly bc I’m on my phone, but a 10k (6.2 miles) without calories would be fine. That’s 45 minutes, an hour, maybe 1.5 hours on the outside for most.

A marathon without calories (always 26.2 miles) on the other hand… Bad idea.

Labor is usually less strenuous (in terms of depleting glycogen stores), but it’s usually a lot longer– sometimes 3-10x as long as a marathon!

Although, actually, for a marathon, Mountain Dew wouldn’t be a bad choice, if you could tolerate it. Lots of sports gels are essentially caffeinated sugar, and that’s most of what you need (along with electrolytes). Of course, labor is also not a marathon– it’s often a half-day or day (or longer). And while it may be less taxing to one’s aerobic capacity (among other things)… Since when do we expect anyone to go 8 or 12 or 24 or 36 hours without food? I mean in general, let alone while doing something physically difficult– and on little or no sleep?

I think I’ll give my kids nothing but kool-aid for the next 48 hours. They’ll be exercising a lot too. They’ll be okay, that’s all their bodies need.

I’m not the OP of this one but I had a similar situation with the hospital I birthed my daughter at. I expressed a worry that if I wasn’t able to take food for hours on end I’d develop a raging migraine. I basically got told that the IV was all I’d need but I could have ginger ale or apple juice. Last I looked those were not food! One of many problems I had with her birth and that hospital.

I’m expecting again, plan to deliver at a different hospital and will be including in my birth plan that I will be bringing food or having it brought into the hospital if I get hungry and want some if the hospital will not provide it. I’m kind of doubting that my body will want to go through that without food, and that I won’t want a raging puking migraine while laboring.

I think that in all fairness, the nurses and doctors should ALSO be NPO while the mother labors. Tell them that they have to do their jobs (which are a lot less strenuous than contracting) without any food or drink, although they can have an IV. Not even coffee. Listen to how hard they scream.

If we made prisoners break rocks without food or water, Amnesty International would be all over us for human rights violations. But laboring moms…? An IV is good enough for them. :-b

I had to DEMAND juice and Popsicles. I was so adamant about eating that when I began vomiting later, all the nurses, and even my mother and sister were like, “We told you so!” I response, I told them, I would rather be throwing up juice, than bile, or dry heaving. ANY DAY OF THE WEEK. Besides, I’m throwing up due to LABOR, not because of the food. I would be throwing up regardless.”

A few of them rolled their eyes.

I hope the OP was able to have whatever she wanted.

Dear medical “professional”,
It is never acceptable to call a patient “honey”. “Honey” is a pet name that should be reserved for a significant other or, possibly, a small child. It doesn’t seem to matter what is said after the word “honey”, it is sure to be condescending and probably untrue.

Thank-you!

I’m surprised she wasn’t tied down, fleam in arm and told that the “build up of bilious humors” needed to be extracted. Holy…medival much??

This happened to my best friend when she was in labor with her 1st child. She is one of those people who cannot stand being on an empty stomach or else she gets physically ill, IV or not. I argued with those nurses till we were all blue in the face and they refused to give her anything to eat or drink and just stood by and watched as my friend vomited EVERYWHERE, over and over, from her poor upset empty stomach & a raging headache. She was crying her stomach hurt so much and how did the l&d staff help? They gave me bowls to catch her vomit *sigh*. I ended up sneaking her some jello, which the nursing supervisor caught her eating…but it gave her the strength to get my godson out. Ridiculous!