Vomiting during labour is pretty common. Many women around the world will
experience nausea or vomiting and labour so you're not
alone. Hi I'm Anja, I'm a hypnobirthing
practitioner and today I'm going to talk to you about why you may vomit in labour
and how you can deal with it. Vomiting in labour can be caused by a
number of different things: your contractions they get more intense,
the side effects of certain chemical pain relievers in labour,
lack of food or too much food in your digestive system
and dehydration. If your contractions are causing you to vomit in labour,
the best thing that you can do is breathe slowly and calmly through each
contraction. When you do this it relaxes your mind
and your body and it prevents stress, tension and
adrenaline build up. Stress tension and adrenaline in labour
can increase feelings of sickness so you want to reduce those feelings as much as
you possibly can. For more information about how to
breathe during labour please check out my breathing technique videos on my
youtube channel! When it comes to chemical pain relief possibly causing
you to vomit in labour, if you're using gas and air otherwise
known as Entonox or Remifentanil which are self-administered forms of chemical
pain relief, just stop using them to see if your
vomiting subsides. If you have an epidural in labour that
causes you to be sick or you opt for a longer-lasting
injection of chemical pain relief such as
diamorphine or pethidine, you might just have to wait until those chemical pain
relievers exit your bloodstream but do make sure that you ask your care
team if they can provide an anti-nausea or anti-sickness medication that's safe
for you to take during labour to combat any vomiting. Lack of food can
cause you to be sick in labour so you've got to REMEMBER TO EAT because
you're going to be burning so much energy during the birth process.
If you eat too little in labour it triggers your body to start burning fat
reserves and that increases acidity levels in your body and feelings of
sickness. You might find yourself vomiting up
quite a lot of bile which is really nasty :(
On the other hand, it's also really important not to stuff your face in
labour and eat too much in one go. Your digestive system slows down in
labour because your body focuses on dilating your cervix and birthing your
baby. If you have too much food in your
digestive system during the birth process,
your body will try and eliminate it and make you vomit it up.
What it's trying to do is create as much space in your abdomen as
possible for a smoother and less painful labour
and delivery. The key to eating correctly in labour
is to snack little and often to keep your energy
levels up but not overwhelm your digestive system.
Please check out my best snacks for labor video on my youtube channel!
Dehydration is another reason why you might vomit in labour
When your body lacks fluids feelings of sickness can quickly increase.
You can dehydrate fast in labour because your body uses up a lot of water
to fuel your contractions and dilate your cervix so be sure to be sipping on
water and flat isotonic energy drinks little and often.
Every 10 to 15 minutes you need to be taking a few sips of water or an energy
drink. Please stay clear of acidic fruit juices
and carbonated drinks because during labour they can actually
increase feelings of sickness and cause you to vomit more.
To make sure that you're prepared for a possible puking episode in labour,
make sure that you do have a sick bag or some kind of container at the ready
just in case you are sick, especially if you're travelling to give birth away from
home and you've got to get in your car and go
to a birth centre or hospital to deliver your baby.
You don't want to be puking all over your car seats and for it to stink
forever more! Please make sure that you have a
container with you just to be on the safe side! Thank you so much
for watching this video today. I hope that you found the information useful.
If you haven't already done so, please subscribe to my channel because I upload
new videos every single week and I don't want you to miss out on any important
antenatal information. Do share this video with a pregnant
friend of yours if you think i can help them
and for more information about my hypnobirthing classes and hypnobirthing
online course, please click the links below. Take care
and see you again soon! Bye :)