Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I've attended over 100 births and I don't think I've ever seen a woman in active labor who wanted to eat, but I'm sure it happens. It's not like everyone pukes their guts out, but I guess for me it was similar to how you don't really feel like eating in the middle of exercising. Why not bring some Lara bars or something in your hospital bag just in case? If your nurse catches you eating, they're not going to kick you out. It's true that L&D floors aren't accustomed to providing food, but several-days-long inductions are common enough that meals are sometimes ordered on L&D. When your doctor or midwife admits you to the hospital, they have to put in an order for what your nurse is supposed to allow you to eat and drink, and checking off "clear fluids" may be their default. Not allowing oral hydration would be ridiculous, though. My favorite labor drink is coconut water! You could have some boxes of coconut water packed in your bag, too.

coconut water is a great idea! thanks!

definitely gonna pack some granola bars and maybe some crackers.

Pack snacks for your husband too! I bought some and of course forgot to pack them, my doula actually went and bought him some snacks so he wouldn't have to leave my side.

I really over-packed. I brought like full meals to the birth center. I'm glad I did, though, because my husband ate all of it. He was totally famished and exhausted after the birth!

Yeah, I was eating my brains out while in early labour with Raygold (I also washed my hair and did my make-up and unpacked and re-packed my labour bag), but as soon as things got crazy, I forgot about food.

I will second the coconut water. I had that with me all through labor and a case in my room after we birthed. It was awesome.

My dr office just called to tell me I am indeed slightly anemic. They said to start taking my iron supplement again and try to add more iron rich foods into my diet. Im not too worried about this. I ate really crappily for so long cause I felt like crepe so I feel like it should be easy to cram some dark leafy greens back into my diet. Any other suggestions for iron rich foods? Ill have to pull out my copy of Vegan For Life when/if I get home after this snowmageddon that’s currently going on here. she said beans and lentils have iron but im not sure if I need to go for specific beans.

I had to ask them about my glucose test results which I thought was kinda funny. Like isn’t that one more important to know about? Anywho they said that was normal, my result was 110 whatever that means so I am gestational diabetes FREE!! WOO-HOO!

LP, here's a good list of foods that are high in iron: http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.php

Also, keep in mind that vitamin C helps in iron absorption and calcium impedes it, so try to pair high-vitamin C foods (like bell peppers) with your high-iron foods, and if you take a calcium supplement, take it at a different time of day than your iron supplement. Don't stress too much about that though - just get those foods in and you'll be good :)

Do I have to get the expensive stuff from the health food store or should the coconut water from the Chinese grocers be okay? I'm asking because the Chinese stuff is so reasonablly priced and the health food store stuff is OUTRAGEOUS (over £2 per 330ml). I figure the Chinese stuff couldn't be much different...right?
Maybe I can find a better deal on-line.


I'm saying this very tongue-in-cheek rather than as serious advice, but our local health visitors said the best way to get iron was cornflakes or rice crispies with fresh orange juice. :p~~ Seriously, that was her only iron-related recommendation and she was REALLY pushing it. Rice crispies and OJ. *sigh*

Just check ingredients. My husband got us Thai coconut water in cans and it had a lot of added sugar, while the stuff we got from Costco was plain coconut and yum.

And for iron-rich foods, I was surprised that farina is very highly fortified with iron and B-12. 3 tbsp are a serving and have 60% of your RDA. Plus obvs lentils.

thanks poopiebitch ill take a look! :-)

tcc that's too funny. not sure im gonna do it though ;-)

Oh! But on a serious note, figs! How could I have forgotten? I love figs, fresh or dried. And, IIRC, dates, prunes, and raisins.

I've leaned on Floravit on and off throughout my pregnancy - it's good cause it doesn't cause constipation. Although I tend to eat fairly healthily (or so I tell myself), I'm way too lazy to make sure I'm covering off all of my essential nutrients each day.

Yeah, I tried to eat reasonably normally the first day of my labour, but didn't feel too great, then that night I started vomiting and had to force myself to eat anything the next day, which I did because I didn't know how much longer it was going to take and I knew I'd need some energy left. I basically had a couple of mashed bananas in the last 24 hours before I gave birth.

also, in early labour I don't see why you'd be at the hospital yet, so you should be able to eat as much/whatever you want, and like mooo says, once things start getting real [when you hopefully will be at the hospital] you probably won't want anything more.

haha I'd read so many people espousing the wonder of coconut water as a labour/post-birth hydration that I bought a can and took it with me, opened it to have as my first drink after having the baby only to find that I don't like coconut water and only managed to get about half of it down before having to throw it away : /

For my daughter's birth, the hospital wanted me to be there pretty quickly after my water broke, which happened several hours before active labor started. So, I spent many hours of early labor at the hospital, and I was definitely still hungry then. (As an aside, I wish I hadn't gone straight to the hospital when my water broke-- if I hadn't, I might have gotten a good night's sleep before active labor started, but since I went in as soon as my water broke like the hospital wanted me to, I didn't sleep at all during early labor.)

FWIW, spinach and some of the other leafy greens are pretty high in oxalic acid, which can hinder absorption of iron. There's still a lot of iron in there, but often it seems, much of it is rendered useless to the body. :(

Good point! I hadn't thought about hospital rules requiring you to check in early [though if it makes you feel better, staying home didn't allow me a good night's (or any) sleep in early labour either..]

The system here definitely encourages you to stay at home as long as possible, I think my midwife was mildly exasperated when I said I was ready to go in as she was out for dinner at the time, but it turned out my daughter was born ~2 hours later so it was a good thing we moved when we did...

i was trying to remember what it was about spinach that even though it was really high in iron it wasnt like the best source of iron and i think you just hit the nail on the head!

ive been looking up Isa/lentil recipes this afternoon.

too bad it's snowmageddon outside and there's a driving ban or i might go stock up

Just re Helbury's comment, it may depend on your provider and your medical situation. When my water broke, the hospital told me to come in right away and my midwife told me to wait until we were at 2 min contractions 2 mins apart. Their reasoning is that the minute the bag of waters breaks there is a risk of infection and so you need to be in a controlled environment, where they can monitor you. Her reasoning for staying home until you were ready to deliver was to avoid all the monitoring. And the reason she was comfortable doing that is that I wasn't high risk. Things may have been very different with twins or GBS etc

My water broke at 11 am and I didn't head in until 4:30 pm and I felt like I wanted to start pushing.

I ate real food at home (my water broke first, maybe 12 hours before we went to the hospital) until we left. I remember my "last meal" was green Thai curry, a banana, and Isa's chocolate chip cookies! But once things really got going I felt like I might vomit at any moment--except not in a really bad, nauseous way, if that makes any sense--so didn't eat anything again until after.

My midwife actually was really encouraging me to eat something; she offered to go get toast or nuts or whatever in an effort to keep my strength up. I just couldn't do it though. I will say that the apple juice I drank through a straw right after the birth was about the best thing ever. Also, tiny wu latched herself on and started nursing pretty much as soon as they laid her on my chest, which I partially attribute to the fact that she hadn't gotten any food in 15 hours or so either!

I'm so excited - my SIL gave birth to my new nephew last night! Now Giles will have a playmate just his age when we go visit family :) I didn't get to hear her birth story from her own lips because she went in to the hospital with a terrible cold and was already losing her voice, but apparently she yelled lots during delivery and totally lost her voice! (they made her wear a face mask during labor!!!!! how awful would that be?) anyway I am so excited and just had to share.

Another vote for floravital too...I'd completely forgotten about taking it. Helped me get over that magic number to be allowed to birth at the midwifery centre.

The hospital staff encouraged me to eat as well and I did actually have some pasta at dinner, and a nakd bar once or twice. I did drink water a good bit and didn't feel nauseous.

congrats on a new nephew Annasrobbie!

my baby's first cousin (on my husband's side of the family, i have 2 teen/preteen nephews) will be born 3 weeks after her! only problem is we live in MA and they live in NC so so much for a playmate ;-)

have fun with your new nephew!

why did they make her wear a facemask? O2?

No - apparently they made her wear a facemask because it is flu season! you know like a paper face mask to prevent her germs from being coughed on people. I would have been SO non-compliant with that!

I've never heard of anything like that! Did she actively have a flu infection? Is the flu really bad where they are? Did everyone else have to wear them too?

Either way, congratulations! Babyfriends are the best.