Going Pee and Giving Birth: 4 things about emptying the bladder during labour that you probably didn’t know
You may have heard about the importance of eating, drinking, breathing, and changing positions during labour, but did you know that urinating regularly is equally important? Here are four reasons why. Some of them might surprise you.
A full bladder makes contractions more painful
When you’re in labour, every time your uterus flexes, it puts pressure on your bladder. We all know how uncomfortable pressure on a full bladder is. Under normal circumstances, we would recognize the feeling and head to the nearest washroom. But during labour, this pressure can be so synchronised with the contractions, that some people don’t realise they need to pee. For these people, that full bladder feeling just becomes part of the general sensation of the contractions–an unnecessary element of discomfort that can make the overall experience less pleasant. Every contraction adds pressure to the full bladder, adding more intensity than there needs to be. And the birthing person just thinks that’s what labour feels like.
A full bladder can stall your labour
Another downside to having a full bladder in labour is that it can actually get in the way–physically. To leave your body, the baby has to move around your bladder, to exit the pelvis and travel down the birth canal. If the bladder is full, this can obstruct the exit route. It can get in the way by compressing the birth canal so that the baby doesn’t have room to manoeuvre downwards. The fuller the bladder, the more it can interfere. For most people, the awareness of a full bladder will propel you to use the toilet, and this will never be an issue. But for other people, the specific cue to go to the bathroom that your body usually imparts can get obscured by the strength of all the sensations happening in that general area, and you might not identify your need to pee. In these cases, the full bladder can actually cause labour to slow down or even stall, as the volume of urine is blocking the baby’s exit route.
Sitting on the toilet is good for labour progress
Can you actually go to the bathroom during labour? Yes. You absolutely can. In fact, sitting on the toilet can be particularly beneficial in helping labour progress. Not only because an empty bladder is important to make room for the baby to move down, but also because of the mechanics involved. When you sit on the toilet, you tend to relax your pelvic floor and all your sphincters, which is useful for helping the baby descend. Normally we keep our perineum engaged, but sitting on the toilet is the exception. In labour, simply being in this position cues our body, through habit and association, to let go of the tightening we otherwise maintain. This can make it easier for the baby to navigate through our body. Sitting on the toilet backwards can amplify this advantage even further, as this position promotes a very open pelvic floor.
A full bladder can make you feel cold
This one might surprise you. Did you know that having a full bladder can actually make you feel cold? It’s true! Our body spends energy keeping our urine warm, and if we release the urine, we can use that energy to warm ourselves instead. During labour, a lot of people struggle with cycles of feeling too hot and then too cold and then too hot again. This is because the contractions are heavy muscle work, which can make you feel hot and sweaty. But the relaxation breaks between contractions can be very still and quiet, which can make you feel chilled and clammy. If there is urine sitting in your bladder, it can exacerbate that unpleasant chilly feeling, making some people thoroughly tense and uncomfortable, even during the recuperation time between contractions. In particular, some people get icy cold feet, which can magnify the discomfort of the labour in general. But as soon as you go pee, your body discovers a reservoir of energy to help regulate your temperature. You can try this next time you’re really cold–go to the bathroom and you will feel instantly warmer. Temperature regulation is always strained during labour. Having a full bladder adds a completely unnecessary layer of discomfort, as it prevents your body from warming itself between contractions. The tension your body adopts when cold makes contractions a little bit harder to manage.
As you can see, there are several reasons to maintain an empty bladder during labour. For many people, this is easy and straightforward. You feel the need to go pee, and you go pee. Problem solved. But for some people, the message that your body usually sends you when you have a full bladder gets obscured by all the other predominant sensations. And you can easily misinterpret the discomfort of the full bladder as part of the labour experience.
So how do we solve this? We have to rely on our support team–our partner, doula, family/friends, nurse, or midwife–to remind us to visit the facilities every couple of hours. Our support people can keep one eye on the clock and gently encourage us if we’re not attending to this need without their prompting. Plus, the fringe benefit is that every trip to the bathroom gets us up and moving, which is also helpful for moving labour along. A full bladder can make labour harder, longer, and less comfortable. But our support team can help us prevent these inconveniences with gentle reminders. When it comes to labour, every little thing we can do to make the birthing person more comfortable is well worth the effort. Including reminding her to go pee.
Stephanie Ondrack lives in East Van with her partner, 4 kids, 4 chickens, and 5 cats. She has been with The Chidbearing Society since 2003.