Should you do Ladyscaping Before Giving Birth?

Do we need to do ladyscaping our foo foo before giving birth?

For those that have been blessed with the miracle that is childbirth, whether you’ve gone the vaginal birth or the C-section, all mothers have asked the question – should I clean up downstairs before the birth?

With most of us either completely disinterested in the mere thought of hair maintenance “down there,” or just rendered incapable of even seeing our lady parts towards the end of our pregnancies, you could be forgiven for thinking that most women enter the maternity ward with a wildly overgrown situation going on.

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But ladyscaping before childbirth is fast becoming top priority for a lot of pregnant women, with even those who have never even tended to the garden bringing out the whipper-snippers for the benefit of the birthing staff.

Why Ladyscape?

Having spoken to a few midwives on the subject, it is a general consensus that a manicured bush is the equivalent to perfect dinner manners – a rare sight in an unlikely setting. For a lot of women, hair removal of the pubic area, (whether it be the whole carpet or you leave behind a bit of a decorative rug) is essential whether they be pregnant or not and is a personal matter of taste and preference. 

Most women clean it up to make themselves feel cleaner after birth. There is a lot of bleeding and if you do need some after-birth patchwork, the last thing you want is to get overgrown pubes stuck in your stitches.

Do I Wax? Shave? Pluck?

Depending on how far along you are, and how big you get, depends on the range of access to weed-whack your garden. You can ask your hubby to do it, but chances are you’ll end up with a little bit more than a haircut taking up your time (if you know what I mean!). Clippers are a better option than razors, to prevent nicks, cuts and stubble. Don’t even go there with the tweezers! The majority of women opt for a professional wax job but note that a lot of salons will not do it once you have past 32-34 weeks, due to extreme sensitivity in the area.

A big issue most women have is that they usually do the job themselves and may be embarrassed to have someone else prune the roses. But, as most Mum will tell you, you’ll have your bits out when the show gets on the road so any embarrassment or awkwardness you may have about your follicular arrangement will be futile.

Is it safe to do late in my pregnancy?

Waxing in pregnancy is perfectly safe but best performed by a professional. There are some reports that because of your increased blood volume and sensitivity that the experience can be a lot more painful, but this is the case on most areas of the body, including legs and eyebrows. ALWAYS go to a qualified therapist, preferably one who works in a specialist pregnancy day spa or similar, or even ask your friends. A competent therapist will have specialist wax for the XXX areas and make sure you moisturise sufficiently when finished.

My Gyno was sewing me up after giving birth to my son and commented,

‘That’s a great wax you’ve had there’. 

I felt pretty proud of it!

How it was in the olden days….

All women used to be “shaved for birth”, and given an enema to clear the bowels! It was thought to be the doctors’ preference in the belief that shaving reduces the risk of infection if the perineum tears or an episiotomy is performed and that it makes suturing easier. The tidying up of the pubic region is still widely encouraged in many hospitals all over the world. But there is no solid evidence that shaving/waxing/plucking provides any barrier against infection or any other benefit other than being aesthetically pleasing to the delivery staff.

So unless your ladyscape has extended beyond the fences of your underwear and is rampantly growing wild like a jungle down your leg, keep in mind that you are not that far away from experiencing a world of pain when you bring your little one into the world, so maybe subjecting yourself to any additional pain is not for you.

That being said, everyone likes a freshly mown lawn, right?