I've had extremely shy bowels for as long as I can remember. It's caused a lot of problems for me: I poop about once a week on average, I have actually gone weeks without pooping when on vacation, I've been known to sneak out of friends' houses to poop in empty rest stops, and used to sneak across my all girl's college campus in the middle of the night to use their male bathroom (because men weren't allowed on campus after midnight).

I've lived with it so far, but here comes the REAL problem: I'm about to give birth. Apparently pooping while giving birth is extremely common because you use the same muscles to push out the baby. While I'm sure it's a huge fear of most moms-to-be, I feel like they're only experiencing half of the anxiety that I am now. I feel awful because there should be so many other things on my mind during the delivery, but just thinking about having to poop in front of a room full of doctors, nurses, my parents, and especially my boyfriend just about brings me to tears.

Have any of you had to go through this? Is there anything that can help me relax? I hear that they used to give enemas routinely, but that this isn't the case anymore. I don't know what to do, and I'm afraid no one will take me seriously.