This is meant for the Medical Fetish Board and the Enema Board.
I would like to open a new discussion thread for you ladies who had babies say from 1940 through 1985 and were shaved and given an enema during your Labor & Delivery Prep in the hospital. I know I’m asking for a huge favor and any responses will be greatly appreciated.
I’m asking this both for myself and as a favor to all of us men who were essentially shut out of the whole birth experience and sent to a waiting room to sit and wait like they did back before the 1980s. I realize that the prep was embarrassing for you. But I feel sure I’m not the only husband who would like to know what our was done to his wife, how and when it was done, what she went through and what she was thinking and feeling during that time, but whose wife won’t talk about it.
Ladies, please tell about your Labor & Delivery Prep, describing in as much detail as you can what was done to you, where it was done to you (in a special prep room or in the labor room where you stayed), the order it was done to you after you arrived at the hospital and were taken back to be “prepped” while your spouse was sent to fill out papers and kept “busy” until the prep was all over with and you were in bed in your labor room. The questions I have posed are guidelines to things I hope you will include in your posts.
Ladies, in as great a detail as you can, please tell us:
1. What was done to you, in what order it was done, what the nurse said to you when she came in to prep you and what she said at each step along the way:
2. Was there a vaginal exam to determine if you were in labor and how far along you were?
3. Tell what positions were you put in when you were shaved, such as on your side, frog-leg position (with your feet together and drawn up to your bottom and then let your knees fall open to the side), on your hands and knees, etc.?
4. How large a volume was the enema you were given? 1 quart, 2 quarts, 3 quarts, (or liters) etc.
5. Was the temperature of your labor prep enema warm, very warm or hot?
6. What was in the enema solution besides water, just soap only, soap and glycerin, or soap, glycerin and turpentine (as some say was used back in those days)?
7. What position(s) were you put in when you were given the labor prep enema?
For example, on your left side, on your hands and knees, knee-chest position (bottom up, head down on bed) or if some other position, please describe it?
8. Did you have to hold the enema and if so for how long?
9. Did the nurse give you a rinse enema after the soapsuds enema?
10. Did you have to hold the rinse enema and if so for how long?
11. If you were given a rinse enema, how large a volume was the enema? One quart, 2 quarts, 3 quarts, (or liters) etc.
12. Were you given a second soapsuds enema some hours later if your labor ran for a long time? Describe it.
AFTER YOUR DELIVERY:
I have read on some message boards on the Internet that women who had given birth were given an enema each and every day they were in the hospital after the baby was born.
1. Did you experience daily enemas after giving birth, while in the hospital?
2. If you did receive daily enemas after giving birth, please describe those enemas, the volume, plain warm water enema, soapsuds enemas or other type of enema solution.
3. What equipment was used to give you the enema, a metal can, the disposable 1 liter (40 ounce) plastic bucket enema syringe, a 2 liter (80 ounce) plastic bucket enema syringe or a rubber or disposable enema bag syringe?
4. What type of nozzle was used to give the enema, a regular enema nozzle, a rubber rectal tube, a colon tube or just the plastic tubing that came with the 40 ounce plastic bucket enema syringe?
5. If a rectal tube or a colon tube was used, how long was the tube?
6. What position(s) were you put in when the nurse gave you these enemas?
7. What did the nurse tell you was the reason for giving you daily enemas?
8. Were those daily enemas hard to take?
9. Did you have to hold the enema and if so for how long?
10. Did the nurse give you a rinse enema after the soapsuds enema?
11. Did you have to hold the rinse enema and if so, for how long?
FOR NURSES ---
If you were a nurse and worked in Labor and Delivery during those years prepping women to give birth, please tell us about the standard procedure that was done, such as:
1. The order things were done in prepping the woman, such as a cervical check to see how far along she was in labor, was a rectal check done, was she shaved first then given the enema or vice versa, etc.?
2. How you shaved the mother-to-be, the different positions you had her get into for a full pubic and perineal shave (shaving the pubic and anal area)?
3. Were any suppositories given to the woman before she was shaved or given the enema and if so, why, how many and what kind of suppositories?
4. What was the volume of the labor prep enema (in either liters or quarts)?
5. What was in the enema solution that was given to her? Was it plain water or were other additives used such as Castile Soap, glycerin, turpentine, etc.?
6. What was the temperature of enema solution, warm, very warm, hot or give a specific temperature?
7. How fast was the enema given to the woman in labor?
8. Was the flow of the enema stopped when she had a cramp or labor pain?
9. How many enemas were given to the woman during her labor? Was it just one enema or if her labor stretched for hours was she given another enema or enemas to speed things up? Please describe the other enema(s).
10. Was the new mother given any enemas after the baby was born and if so please give the details of how often they were given (once before checkout, daily enemas, etc.), why they were given.
11. Please give the details about the enema, such as volume, kind of solution the kind of syringe, rectal tube, colon tube, how far was it inserted into her, etc.
One comment on one of the VOY Message Boards was told by a lady about her experience when she was in labor. Her “mother-in-law’s sister was a OB nurse” and was there to give her the prep enema. She said that “The enemas were 3 liters at 110F. with 3 oz. castile soap, 2 oz. glycerin and 2 oz. pure spirits of turpentine.”
Howard, a medical technologist, who posts on some VOY message boards gives this recipe used in the United States about 1967 for labor enemas given to pregnant women in labor to prep them for their labor and delivery: Water, very warm at 110 degrees (F) or a little above, 2 quarts minimum administered in the hospitals. Add in this order per quart of water: 1 oz. green liquid soap, 1 oz. liquid glycerin (optional), 1 oz. Pure Gum Spirits of Turpentine.
I remember hearing my mother comment on how she hated to have her “hands strapped down during the delivery” of her baby, which was me, in the mid 1940s. I think the pregnant woman was completely covered with sterile sheets, including her hands and if she took one out from under the sheet, her hands were tied down to something underneath the sheet.
I know that I am asking a lot, so a big “Thank you” in advance for all who respond to this message thread. I and I’m sure many other husbands appreciate it very much.
My Wife’s Labor & Delivery (L & D) Prep and Checkout ---
What little I know about what my wife’s L & D prep and post-birth enema:
My wife had a baby in the mid to late 1960s. She received a full pubic and perineal shave and a large volume enema during her labor and delivery prep. I don't know exactly what volume the enema was nor what was in it like maybe green soap (whatever that is?) or Castile soap, but the volume was probably at least a liter (33 ounces or about 1 quart) I'm pretty sure of that and it may have been as much as 1.2 liters (40 ounces). It also could have been much larger, too.
Then about three days after the delivery by an emergency C-section she wound up having to have, I was coming to take her home and walked in on the nurse just as she was finishing up giving her another large volume enema with one of those disposable 40 ounce (1.2 liter) plastic enema buckets with a plastic hose hospitals had started using. I know it was that size because I pulled it out of the bedside table the nurse had put it in. We could have taken it home with us, since we paid for it, and I wish I would have taken it home, too. I don't know if it was the same enema syringe they used on her to give her the labor prep enema or if the Labor Department had different enema syringes they used, like the metal Jones Enema Cans hospitals used, too.
From what I have read, back then for normal deliveries, when a pregnant woman checked into the hospital to give birth they were given a soapsuds enema during labor prep along with the full pubic and perineal shave. Then they were given at least one more enema before being discharged from the hospital, usually shortly before being discharged.