What No One Tells You About Labor

Now that you're pregnant, you're dutifully attending childbirth classes and reading everything you can get your hands on about labor and birth. But classes and books tend to give you the big picture, not the surprising -- and sometimes embarrassing -- details. Because knowing what to expect makes for a less stressful delivery, we've asked the experts to spill the beans on the following common (yet seldom-talked-about) scenarios.

You throw up. Who knew that vomiting during labor is normal? I certainly didn't -- until the birth of my daughter nearly three years ago. One reason it happens: Epidurals can cause hypotension, a sudden drop in blood pressure. "An early sign of this is nausea and vomiting," says David J. Birnbach, M.D., spokesman for the American Society of Anesthesiologists and vice chair of the department of anesthesiology at the University of Miami. But throwing up can occur even if you haven't been given an epidural, either because of the pain you're experiencing or as a result of food sitting in your stomach (digestion usually stops during labor). To keep vomiting to a minimum, eat only light foods during the earliest stages of labor, and stop eating completely -- and drink only clear liquids -- once you're in active labor.