pre-delivery "grooming" issue?

[brillohead]

Kind of a weird situation, but I was at a party this weekend and (don't ask me why) the subject of shaving came up. One of the ladies is a hairdresser who does bikini and Brazilian waxes, and she said that she had a bunch of coworkers ask her to do Brazilians for them when they were pregnant because "the doctor/midwife told them to shave before the delivery".

???

I thought that pubic shaving before delivery went out of style 20-30 years ago. I even challenged this woman, asking if it wasn't just that these women were self-conscious and *chose* to be "bald" for their deliveries, rather than being "told to" do it by their OB/CNM. When I had my son 10 years ago, there was never any mention whatsoever about shaving from my midwife -- they didn't even shave me for my c-section. Another woman at the party has a 17yo and a 7yo and she was never told to shave by her OB. (all of these births happened in the same town, which only has two hospitals)

When I had knee surgery five years ago, I was very specifically told NOT to shave my leg for a week prior to the surgery, to minimize the chance of infection / microabrasions. I really did NOT want to go in there like a cactus, but at least I could understand the reasoning behind it.

I just truly cannot wrap my mind around this situation... it boggles my mind that anyone in this day and age would consider it "standard" or "necessary" to be shaved/waxed prior to the delivery. I know that more women than ever are shaving/waxing (pregnant or not) just as a personal grooming choice. A guy at the party said his stepmother has been an L&D nurse for eons and she had remarked a while back that shaving has become much more popular in the past 3-4 years.

But I just can't believe that there are OBs (and midwives! I *really* had a hard time believing that a CNM would say this!) out there telling women who are 8-9 months pregnant that they need to shave off their pubic hair before coming to the hospital, or else the hospital will shave it off when they get there.

I figure if anyone will know, it will be you folks here... is this really a standard procedure anymore???

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Poor guy . . . ..

steph

[nursel56]

quote=shiphrahpuah;4315376] i do have a few questions about logistics though for those of you who prefer that. i mean, what about 5 o'clock shadow? stubble on a face is one thing, but there, uh....ouch.

rofl!! you mean you could end up looking like nixon down there?!? oh no-no-no. definately a turn-off. (well for most people anyways)

l&drnjenn- how often do you have to do that waxing, 'cause really, pubey stubble is much worse than arm/leg hair stubble. they only shaved me like halfway down for my c-section, and my incision is really low. in fact, my ob was bragging during the surgery that i could still go to the local nude beach if i wanted to. funny the stuff you remember about childbirth, eh?

back to the comic relief. a cousin sent this today. in light of the earlier foolishness posted, i couldn't resist. now i promise i'll try to be good...

nooo! or at least wait until monday----

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I am very very lucky to be married to a man who doesn't even ask me to shave my legs, much less anything more intimate. He was born and raised in a place where women didn't remove hair from their legs, pits, or anything else, and to him that is perfectly normal and natural, not something from which to recoil in horror. Good thing, because we talked about it once, and I told him I am NOT shaving/waxing down there. He's done it on occasion to himself and I didn't like it, and told him so. (He'd be mortified if he knew I was telling this...) I mean, to each their own - if you want to do it then fine, but it should NOT be a requirement for you to love someone. Personally, I don't get what's so gross about a body that looks natural.

Nobody in our local doctors offices/clinic tell women to shave before they come in. But I have seen an increase in the number of women who come in completely hairless.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

I have not read all the replies but yet...I am in my late 30s and myself, my friends and the fellas I dated until I got married in December all expect a fair amount of grooming of the lady garden.

[Lilnurse0803, RN]

I just want to say that I really enjoyed reading every single post on this thread and laughed so hard at times. I too am fortunate enough to have married an amazing, self sufficient, and brilliant younger man, in his 20's, from the Netherlands who is not hung up on all this crazy nonsense about looking prepubescent because it's not what he's accustomed to in his culture.

I, however, choose to self groom and do so at my leisure without worrying that my "cactus" like legs or crotch will turn my hubby off. A nice close hair cut and some shaving on the sides looks good enough without having to go bald and suffer razor burns, rashes, and irritation from growing nubs of hair.

Kudos to all you ladies for standing your ground and respecting the right to choose whether you want to clip your bush. :)

[wifemom&lpn2be]

I've had 3 babies in the last 4 years, with 3 different OBs in 2 different states and NO ONE asked me that ... hey, I couldn't exactly see to do it myself. I did have a brazilian when I was 4 months pregnant but the woman said that she would NOT do them after 7 or 8 months pg because the skin can tear too easily.