Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Mar
13
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…You Can’t Drink Water, It Doesn’t Work That Way.”
“You’re dehydrated and need IV fluids. No, you can’t drink water, it doesn’t work that way.” – L&D Nurse to mother in labor.
There are 38 comments to this post.
This is the stupidest thing in the world. Though I have been told things like it. This time I am going to let them know a head of time sorry drinking anyway. According to the ACOG (even if they want to use them as their site basis) you can drink clear fluids the whole time and up to two hairs before c-section if one is planned. And clear liquids are more than just water as sited by them. If you are Wanting the info as to where exactly so you can have the info to ACOG committee option Number 441 done Sept. 2009 and reaffirmed in 2011.
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birdflippin' had this to say,
Mar 13, 2012 @ 3:16 pm (Quote)
So why isn’t everyone and their dog walking around with an IV to prevent dehydration?
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You’re right, it won’t work like an IV. Drinking water won’t cause me to retain water and swell, potentially causing problems with latching because my nipples won’t present correctly. It won’t tie me to the bed and prevent me from using coping positions and it won’t let you control me.
This is like telling a marathoner that they should just carry an IV bag with them.
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This is mine.
I went in for an induction at 41w3d, but the hospital was bustling with births that day and my mw had to pick up her kid from daycare so she suggested we just sign ourselves out and come back later.
That sounded great to me, but when I went to do that, I got this story about how dehydrated I was (I had been sitting in the hospital bed with nothing to drink, waiting for people to not be too busy to induce me, of course I was a little dehydrated.)
I ended up getting rehydrated by drinking water – it turns out there were no nurses who could get an IV into my deep veins anyway. (Except for the one who woke me up at 3AM. She finally hit a vein.)
Unfortunately, this induction failed and ended in c-section with absolutely no labor.
It set up me up to have a fabulous doula-attended, no-intervention VBAC, though, this December, where I arrived at the hospital 9cm and promptly pushed out my 10lb 14oz little guy 
At 42 weeks, of course. I guess I just had to cook my first a little longer.
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Dee Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 3:55 pm (Quote)
Congrats on your vbac!!!
I have to say, even our super-wonderful L&D nurse kind of got sucked in to the mainstream on this one. I’d gotten ‘approved’ by the OB to just have a heplock (OH, how I hate those things), but the nurse knew I dreaded it, and she kept saying, “We can hold off on it a while.” Well, 2 things happened–the doctor stuck her head in and told her it had to go in NOW, and also, the periodic efm reading showed ‘flat’ heartrate (sounds scary, doesn’t it?)–just meaning that there were not regular fluctuations. I’d thrown up in transition on the way to the hospital, but I’d sucked on some ice chips…maybe I was a little dehydrated, maybe not. Anyway, the nurse got the tech to get the heplock in and then said that maybe some fluids would help the flat heartrate. I gave in because otherwise, she had been gold–position changes, quiet-dark room, shooing away the anesthesiologist, etc. Did I need it? I doubt it, but she had certainly earned our trust and respect. Later, after the birth, when I had a lot of ppartum bleeding from fibroids, one would’ve had to have been started anyway for pitocin. It just annoyed me during labor, that silly thing banging around and getting caught on everything as I worked and moved.
Vy, I have healthy veins, but they are small, and I never have much luck getting a good stick the first time (it sometimes requires lidocaine before they ‘dig’). What are deep veins? Does that mean they are further beneath the skin or ?? (Sorry, I am just curious).
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Vy Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 4:03 pm (Quote)
They have just always been called deep… there’s nothing to see, the nurse/tech has to know what they are feeling for. Maybe it’s just a nice way of saying “buried beneath fat,” although it isn’t any easier to draw my blood when I am thinner. 
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Dee Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 4:06 pm (Quote)
Then I seriously doubt it has anything to do with weight…:)
Ouchie, that’s got to be unfun with them going by how it feels…shudder!
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Oregonmommy Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 4:14 pm (Quote)
Any good MA/Phebotomist/RN better know enough that you do not go for what you can see. They HAVE to know what to feel for, if they don’t they should NOT be doing them.
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Charity Reply:
March 14th, 2012 at 6:29 am (Quote)
I have deep veins, too. I always tell them and no one ever believes me. I won’t give blood because of it. Well, I’d give to one of my kids, but you know what I mean. I can’t stand that they stab and then start digging around. Seriously? Fine the damn thing first! I agree with the previous comment. They shouldn’t be in that line of work if they don’t know what they’re looking for.
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Mama Wrench had this to say,
Mar 13, 2012 @ 6:03 pm (Quote)
Sometimes I wonder if these people ever walk out of the room and think, “Wow, did I just say that? Should I go back in and explain myself to her? Hmmmm… nah, if I ignore it she’ll probably forget all about it later.”
Then I think I’m being too generous…
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my first thought was, Ok so give me ice then? but after reading that OP wasnt even in labour and they were sending her home i dont get how her drinking water is going to hurt, i drank water right up till my scheduled c section even after they put the drip in, an iv in my arm isnt going to fill my stomach!
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Actually… she’s partially correct if I’m assuming this person had a certain type of dehydration (yes, there are more than one kind)… “Physiologically, dehydration, despite the name, does not simply mean loss of water, as water and solutes (mainly sodium) are usually lost in roughly equal quantities to how they exist in blood plasma… The treatment for minor dehydration often considered the most effective, is drinking water and stopping fluid loss. Plain water restores only the volume of the blood plasma, inhibiting the thirst mechanism before solute levels can be replenished.[18] Solid foods can contribute to fluid loss from vomiting and diarrhea. In more severe cases, correction of a dehydrated state is accomplished by the replenishment of necessary water and electrolytes (through oral rehydration therapy or fluid replacement by intravenous therapy).”
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LOVE it!!!!!
*blink*My kids are not going to be thrilled next time they ask to go outside on a hot day, and I respond by inserting a HEP lock in case they start to get dehydrated…you know, since their water bottles are apparently outdated and don’t work that way.
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Labouring mothers sweat.
You’re losing electrolytes AND fluid. IV fluids replace both. Drinking water doesn’t.
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Sheva Reply:
July 1st, 2012 at 7:05 pm (Quote)
How about Powerade? Or water with tea in it, or raw honey, or lemon juice, which my practitioner says are even better than store-bought electrolyte drinks? Still not good?
Also, let mom eat crackers or pretzels, or almost anything, really, with the water. That’s another way she could replace electrolytes.
If IVs were the only way to replace electrolytes, don’t you think we’d all have them inserted permanently?
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Meagan Reply:
July 1st, 2012 at 11:27 pm (Quote)
None of those things replace electrolytes as quickly and effectively as an IV does.
Furthermore, should the labour go south and the mother need emergent care, an IV is already started – saving precious minutes.
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Jane Reply:
July 2nd, 2012 at 4:13 am (Quote)
True, in a dehydration situation a woman needs something like an IV to replace electrolytes quickly.
Which is why the woman shouldn’t be NPO right from the start. So it doesn’t BECOME an emergency situation.
Marathon runners also sweat, so they drink while running. THey don’t run fifteen miles, then get an IV and run with the IV the rest of the way. An IV is necessary to solve a problem the hospital created bykeeping the woman NPO.
As for the precious minutes saved by having an IV already started: heplocks work just fine for that. And we’ve had many medical professionals on this site who have said they can start an IV in less than a minute on a patient who’s trapped upside-down in a car at night during the rain, and a vet who took less than a minute to start a line on a cat who got hit by a car, so why should it take longer than that in a hospital? (Unless wait, you’ve created a situation where the woman is a hard stick because she’s dehydrated?)
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Meagan Reply:
July 2nd, 2012 at 8:44 am (Quote)
1) A heplock is an IV. It’s just not currently in use.
2) The quote in question states that the woman is ALREADY dehydrated. You’ve assumed it’s the hospital’s fault. Plenty of people – labouring mothers included – come into a hospital dehydrated and in need of IV fluids.
3) You have no idea why they’ve placed the woman NPO – if they in fact have.
That’s why sites like this one are ridiculous. You’re only getting one side of the story – and demonizing a myriad of professions based on that.
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Jane Reply:
July 2nd, 2012 at 8:53 am (Quote)
1) A heplock is there in case it’s necessary for emergencies, and exactly, it is not currently in use. That means the mother is free to use more normal methods of hydration and the nurses can’t slip something into the IV without permission.
2) In the OP’s story, the reason she was dehydrated was that they hadn’t permitted her to drink anything. She says that in the pink link. That’s how I know it was the hospital’s fault. No assumptions necessary.
3) Most hospitals place a woman NPO because in the rare case where they require general anesthesia there’s a slight risk of aspiration, and they think it’s safer to aspirate undiluted stomach acid rather than food or water. I was kept NPO because of standing orders for every laboring woman in the hospital, and many hospitals still use that protocol.
So really, it’s not the site that’s ridiculous. Read the comments and the OP’s story before you tell me my comment is ridiculous, okay?
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Meagan Reply:
July 2nd, 2012 at 8:55 am (Quote)
I can see there’s no point in trying to discuss anything with you.
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Sheva Reply:
July 2nd, 2012 at 5:31 pm (Quote)
I can see that you are the type of medical professional who doesn’t like people to ask questions. Or people who actually know what they’re talking about. We scare you because we ask intelligent questions for which you do not have intelligent answers. So this is how you respond. Good to know. I’ll be sure to steer clear in the future.
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Meagan Reply:
July 2nd, 2012 at 8:47 pm (Quote)
You can see that I’m the type of medical professional who is professional.
And once I’ve given a medical rationalization and it is refused, I won’t argue.
You can choose to do whatever you’d like AMA (against medical advice). No skin off my back.
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Vy Reply:
July 2nd, 2012 at 9:02 am (Quote)
This was my son’s birth and I have already stated in the pink link that I was not laboring. I was just a pregnant woman who hadn’t eaten in a couple of hours. My midwife had suggested I leave the hospital and get dinner, so I was not on NPO. Furthermore, they did not do an IV on me because the nurse couldn’t get one. It was not enough of an emergency to call in an IV team or lab tech (and it was the middle of the morning on a Tuesday, so they were there) so I simply went without.
The ridiculousness is in saying that one can’t remedy dehydration with water, or possibly in calling my “condition” dehydration.
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*blink*
My kids are not going to be thrilled next time they ask to go outside on a hot day, and I respond by inserting a HEP lock in case they start to get dehydrated…you know, since their water bottles are apparently outdated and don’t work that way.
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