Katherine Ryan has given birth four times – and she is not afraid to talk about the stuff that many women are terrified might happen when you welcome a baby into the world.
The comedian, who is known for her very blunt and no-holding-back-on-the-details musings on parenting on her podcast, Katherine Ryan: Telling Everybody Everything, did just that again recently – and no doubt raised some eyebrows.
Ryan, who gave birth to her youngest baby, a daughter named Holland, late last year, wants women to know nothing about giving birth should be considered be embarrassing or taboo – including the fact that many women poo in labour.
In fact, the mum-of-four revealed, she ended up pooping in two of her four labours, and is keen to tell other women just how normal this is.
The comedian is fronting a new Andrex #MyLabourPoo campaign, which aims to break the stigma surrounding the labour poo and get mums sharing their birth stories online. This comes after campaign research found 75 percent of mums fear the labour poo, while 13 percent weren’t even aware it might happen – and were completely unprepared when it did.
‘I feel like it’s the least exciting thing that happened on the day.’
Speaking at the event launch, the mum-of-four explained:
‘A lot of women are really terrified about pooing in labour, and that’s a very understandable fear.’
She added:
‘I think we’re socialised not to do it, but I worry. I’ve had four natural labours, and I’ve pooed 50 percent of those times, and it didn’t matter – I feel like it’s the least exciting thing that happened on the day.’
Adding to that, Ryan said:
‘I feel lucky to have my health and my babies and my mental health, and I just want to spread the message that pooing in labour is very normal and it’s nothing to worry about, because no-one will remember.’
‘No-one is going to make an issue out of it’
Talking about her own experiences, the 42-year-old said that although she didn’t poo during her first two labour but she did with her two youngest kids.
She added:
‘I remember a little strainer going into the birthing pool, and nobody said a word, they just whisked it away. No one’s going to make an issue out of it, they certainly don’t mention it.’
However, far from being something to fear, Ryan says pooping during labour is actually a good thing as it usually happens at the end which is how you know your labour is almost over.
Ryan shares new baby Holland, seven months, as well as Fenna, aged three, and Fred, aged five – with her partner Bobby Kootstra. And Ryan is also mum to 16-year-old Violet, from a previous relationship.
Katherine isn’t the only one to say that pooing during labour is a good thing as it means baby is near, she’s backed by midwives who agree with her.
A midwife, who goes by Mamadinya on TikTok, shared: “If there is one thing that every delivery midwife loves to see… we love to see poo. We love poo!
“So when I see my DMs and people are like I’m so scared I’m going to poo during delivery, I’m like LET’S HAVE IT!”
She explained what it means: “Because poo is the biggest sign that baby’s coming – let’s get on this, let’s get this show on the road, baby is coming right now.
