Eating for Two: 'Laborade'
We went to our first childbirth class on Sunday. Yikes! I hadn’t seen videos like that since the sex-ed unit in seventh grade life science, when I came home one day and burst into tears in front of my mother: “They showed us a video of a woman giving birth!”
As manageable as they try to make it sound, labor just doesn’t look fun. MD-to-be Andrew did not appreciate the class’s anti-medical-establishment bias (every time we were given a fact about how well, say, horses handle birthing with no interventions, Andrew would grumble into my ear, “And what’s the mortality rate for birthing horses?”), but I did pick up a thing or two.
I did not know, for instance, that it’s okay to eat while you’re in labor. During the early, long, less strenuous phase, which is best spent at home, it’s positively recommended that you eat a meal and drink lots of water to build up strength for what lies ahead. Grains and pasta are recommended at this stage, just like carbo-loading for a marathon. Even once you’re at the hospital, however, little snacks like dried fruit, juice, popsicles, toast, and energy bars are not dangerous and will help you keep your energy up, which might result in a shorter labor.
Some hospitals still forbid snacking and confine you to ice chips (now that sounds satisfying), but like laboring and delivering on your back, that policy is a holdover from the (now quite distant) days when most women were put under general anesthesia so their babies could be delivered with forceps. Today, even if you needed an emergency c-section you would probably not elect to be completely knocked out, so a little fruit juice in your belly would not do you any harm. Nevertheless, advocates of snacking during labor say that it is best to keep snacks small and easy to digest. If something does go wrong and you are put under general anesthetic, it would be best not to have a bucket of fried chicken lingering in your gut.
My favorite pregnancy book, The Pregnancy Book by William and Martha Sears, recommends a homemade Gatorade-type drink they call laborade. I hope I’m able, twelve weeks from now, to take some to the hospital and drink it with their blessing. I’m not the kind of person who would be comfortable breaking a hospital’s rules, even if I don’t believe they’re sound; on the other hand, I am the kind of person who will be extremely unhappy if I haven’t had anything to eat or drink for 12 hours and someone offers me a cup of ice chips.
About the author: Robin Bellinger recently escaped a career in book publishing, which was cutting into her cooking time. Now she's a freelance editor and can bake bread on Tuesday afternoon if she feels like it. She lives in Midtown Manhattan with her husband and blogs about cooking and crafting at home*economics.
Laborade
- makes 1 quart -
Adapted from The Pregnancy Book by William and Martha Sears.
Ingredients
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup honey
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1-2 calcium tablets, crushed
Procedure
Combine all ingredients in a bottle and add enough water to make 1 quart. You can add an additional 8 ounces of water for a milder flavor, or you can flavor this blend with your favorite juice.
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12 Comments:
That's just going to make you hurl (lots of women hurl during labor, but it's best to try to avoid it). Gatorade is basically just sugar and salt and water, so if you want electrolytes, you can eat a couple of salted crackers or pretzels, and drink some juice, and there you go. No strange concoctions required.
Good luck! Have a good baby!
Amy @ http://prettybabies.blogspot.com
amya413 at 2:35PM on 06/10/08
I second that. If you eat, you will hurl. I promise.
And really - eating anything while you are going through contractions (even when several minutes apart) just doesn't sound like fun. I went through 22 hours of labor. The last thing you are thinking about is eating.
schwerine at 4:41PM on 06/10/08
I made some Labourade in preparation for the birth of my son back in March. It sounded like such a great idea and was highly recommended by my midwives as well. Unfortunately, I vomited through all 35 hours of labour and the taste of bitter honey juice was even more disgusting coming back up.
The only thing that kept me hydrated was a giant cup filled with ice and a bit of apple juice poured over top.
However, there were a few women in my pre-natal class that had success with Labourade, so go figure. I think the best advice I can pass on (just what you were looking for, I'm sure) is this: Go with the flow. Screw the plan.
Good luck!
francie at 7:37PM on 06/10/08
Water mixed with gingerale on ice, and a few saltine crackers seem to work the best as a nice light snack with minimal vomiting. But most women do throw up...
PeanutButter at 7:45PM on 06/10/08
Oh yeah, and the nurses at work have a saying: "The longer the birth plan, the higher the chance of a Cesarean" Try to go with the flow, and good luck!
PeanutButter at 7:49PM on 06/10/08
people are so opiniated around the subject of labor and birth!
i'm having a home birth, so i'm going to eat and drink and throw up and (censored for the food blog) to my heart's content.
robin, did you watch the business of being born? that'll really get your m.d. hubby's panties in a twist ;)
dmarina at 8:03PM on 06/10/08
I don't think it's true that "most" women throw up. I had a HUGE dinner (1/2 pound hamburger, order of fries, strawberry smoothie) the night before I gave birth to my daughter. I went into labor at 2 something and she was born at 6:14, and I never threw up. I was induced with #2, and I had eaten lunch. They started the induction at 6 pm, and she was born at 11:09 pm, and again, no hurling.
Like so many things, I think that there are a lot of self-fulfilling prophecies that come into play with labor and delivery.
@Dmarina - I would've LOVED to have a home birth, but my husband just couldn't get on board. Since he had to go through it, too, in a different but still difficult way, I compromised. Drug free, hospital births with an OB present, but I went home early both times.
amya413 at 9:21PM on 06/10/08
Dmarina, I've been too nervous to watch The Business of Being Born, actually! People always seem so horrified by it. But maybe I should watch it...sometime when he's not home.
My only birth plan is to learn as much as I can and then go with the flow and do whatever we need to do to keep everyone healthy and sane. My OB made it clear early on that she thinks detailed birth plans are setups for disappointment and difficulty, and as a somewhat rigid person I can easily imagine myself ending up in that kind of situation if I try to map everything out. It has been very interesting to read responses to this post from people with actual childbearing experience (including my mother, who responded offline and who also thought nibbling during labor did not sound appealing or right). I guess it is wishful thinking on my part to imagine that the discomfort of hunger might be able to compete with all the other, um, discomforts I'll be feeling. I am oscillating between curious about and terrified of labor and love hearing about other people's experiences. Of course, it is stories like amya413's that are the most heartening. Every story is so different.
PS Andrew just read this post and asked me to append a disclaimer making clear that my opinions do not reflect his medical recommendation :) As the teacher in our childbirth class said over and over again when any labor choice came up, "You'll have to discuss that with your practitioner." Of course, she always said it in a way that implied that your callous practitioner would probably make whatever recommendation was least likely to interrupt his golf game, but as someone who is awfully fond of more than one doctor, I can assure you that they aren't all bad.
Robin Bellinger at 11:37PM on 06/10/08
@ PeanutButter: "Oh yeah, and the nurses at work have a saying: "The longer the birth plan, the higher the chance of a Cesarean" "
Sooooo very true. This nurse's theory is that the stress of trying to control every detail stresses you out so hard that you can't focus on your actual job, which is delivering a healthy baby. My mom had both of us without even an IV and was home in six hours. My cousin was induced, they pushed her too hard and she had an emergency C section. Every birth is different.
My best advice as a NICU nurse who's been to lots of births is make your wishes (food related or not) known to your nurses and doctor, but be realistic that sometimes stuff just happens and the plan may not be feasible. And know that since OB/L&D is the most sued specialty in medicine, MDs and RNs get reaaaally twitchy about deviating from hospital protocol, because that can be their only defense if something goes awry. The best thing is to check in with your doc BEFORE something comes up during the labor process, when you're not in pain or overwhelmed by emotions. And if your doc says "NO. All women at X hospital must be on their backs/confined to bedrest/totally without food or drink no matter what" then maybe think about another hospital.
elizabells at 9:28AM on 06/11/08
My wife just gave birth to our daughter naturally in Idaho. Our baby was breeched and no doctor in Montana would deliver her naturally, it was just an automatic C-section, and it is illegal for our midwife to do it, so my wife did an insane amount of research and found a place in Meridian, ID that would deliver the baby naturally if she stayed breeched. (Which she did.) The ladies at the Baby Place were amazing! They were there for the family and the baby, not the cash and not trying to just "get the baby out safely." I've seen a lot of doctors play mind games since my wife got pregnant, and honestly I have very very little faith in the traditional medical community.
Montana Eats at 11:49AM on 06/11/08
Hi Robin - I enjoy your posts. I had my first, a girl, 6 mo. ago. I was also worried about getting hungry during labor but it was the last thing on my mind. I was thirsty and drank water and juice over ice chips and that was nice.
I threw up - I think some women do, during the transition stage, and it's not related to what or whether you eat.
What's scary about your first labor and delivery is being out of control and not knowing what is going to happen - the anticipation of it. So if making a drink to take with you to the hospital and drinking it in early labor will make you feel like you're doing "something" for your own comfort, do it! What's the baking soda for? And the calcium tablets?
I saw the Business of Being Born last week. It's beautiful. It's not gross at all (and I am grossed out easily). I highly recommend it.
rachelb at 2:08PM on 06/11/08
LMAO... Three monsters, all born at home.
SURE I ate... Taco Bell at that, and I don't even LIKE Taco Bell.
Yep, barfed during transition... but just for the girl. The two boys, no barfing.
For a detailed birth plan, I suggest that the hospital be AVOIDED. It's dangerous, and full of germs.
I did EXACTALLY as I pleased... lots of loud music, a couple gallons of iced tea... and was wandering about taking a shower RIGHT AFTER the DELIVERY.
Dressed and shopping two hours later... oh, alright, in FLATS.
A baby is NOT a medical THING! If women in China can give birth in a rice paddy, and continue on... no reason I couldn't.
I also had first dollar coverage... wouldn't have cost me a DIME to go to the hospital.
Except I don't TRUST doctors, and will NEVER let them be in CHARGE.
Katt
Kathy5171 at 11:12PM on 06/13/08