Amanda Peet discusses her delivery and large supply of milk

Amanda Peet stopped by Late Night with Conan O’Brien and talked about her "okay" delivery of Frances Pen, 10 weeks, and how some extra breast milk excited her husband, screenwriter David Benioff.

Still a little out of it, Amanda mistakenly says she was comfortable during the delivery before correcting herself and attributing the slip to the fact that she’s "gotten slow." She got an epidural and says she doesn’t understand people who don’t get one. Prior to receiving the epidural, Amanda was given an interim drug that suspended pain for a short period of time before reality hit again.

They gave me an interim drug before the epidural. I got so high. I was laughing, joking around with my girlfriends – ‘This is great!’ And then all of the sudden the contractions got really bad.

The delivery itself was quick, she says, but not without difficulty.

It was very painful and I was throwing up a lot and my doctor is not a coddling kind of doctor. And at one point, I’d been throwing up and pushing for a while, he was like, ‘Amanda, you’re not pushing hard enough.’ And I said, ‘I can’t, I think I might faint. Is it gonna be okay if I faint?’ And then he just looked at me and [turned and] went, ‘All right, can you tell them I’m gonna be there at 4:00, not 3:30?’ It was strangely comforting.

Amanda also recounted her pumping extravaganza in an airport bathroom, saying it makes "you look like a cow. It’s not sexy at all and your boobs look like udders." Her boobs looked like something else altogether one morning when they were engorged with milk.

My husband was trying to get me relaxed at night because I’d always be like, ‘Is she asleep?’ So he was like, ‘Have some beer,’ [to increase milk supply] and I couldn’t cause I had too much milk. I woke up one morning and it was like I had coconuts underneath a thin layer of skin and my husband was really excited about it, but I looked like a porn star. I really did. It was really, like, it was crazy.

Click below to watch a video of the appearance.

Comments

hahaha! I used to say I looked like a porn star too when my son started sleeping through the night( at 12 months!!!) and I woke up really engorged!

- Amber Smith on May 8th, 2007

Porn star boobs? That just makes me laugh for some reason, but I can see why her husband was so excited to see her looking like that, lol. Keep it up and they’ll have a second one in no time.

- FC on May 8th, 2007

This is NOT to start a controversy…but she was throwing up BECAUSE of the drugs and COULDN’T push because she couldn’t feel her lower half. Her doctor probably had her laying on her back too. I bet it would have been easier without the drugs and a lot less painful, (no throwing up, light headedness, masking of pain so the real pain was worse). And if she was high because of the interim drug…imagine how stoned the baby was. I think the drug intensity is magnified by 30 times for a baby if the mother is given drugs…so her child was drugged off of her rocker. I wonder how her daughter did with latching on and breastfeeding right after delivery. Good for her for breastfeeding though…that’s AWESOME!!!

- Brass on May 8th, 2007

There is no way to know if she threw up b/c of the drugs so I don’t think its fair to make such an assumption. Some women feel nauseated and throw up during labor/delivery even without pain meds. Depends on the person.

- madison on May 8th, 2007

Throwing up is a sign of “transition.” It’s a very good indicator that you are entering the last phase of your labor. Once you start throwing up you can be pretty confident that you will be pushing soon.

In my labor I did not have any other drugs besides my epidural (which didn’t work mind you). I dilated from 4-10 cm’s in 2 hours, and I was throwing up like crazy. You can’t blame throwing up on drugs…Google it, and you will see that throwing up is part of transition. Not everyone does it, but you can just jump to conclusions that it was because of the drugs.

On a side note…I pushed for 4 hours and it wasn’t until one of the male interns came in and told me I wasn’t pushing hard enough that I finally got that baby out! Hearing some guy tell me that was the extra bit I needed to channel all my energy and push hard to show that guy!

- Amy on May 8th, 2007

Brass-
All the women I know that had home births or hospital births with no pain medication still threw up. I had an epidural and never threw up. Throwing up is actually a normal part of giving birth, it’s very common.

- Amber Smith on May 8th, 2007

“a lot less painful without the drugs…” ha ha ha ha ha. Sorry – had to laugh at that

- Maria on May 8th, 2007

I can explain why some women–some, not all–refuse epidurals. I am one of those people who is DEATHLY AFRAID of needles. Believe it or not, I would much rather experience unmedicated labor than have a needle inserted anywhere for even half a second. I go into hysterics at the very sight of a needle. Needle-less to say (hee hee), I had a fully natural labor and I would do it again because the thought of getting an epidural makes me want to chew my own arm off. This goes to show you just how powerful the brain really is.

- Alexandra on May 8th, 2007

Thanks for the info Amy…now that I think about it, i remember reading that. I still stand by the fact that drugs are not good for the baby.

- brass on May 8th, 2007

I ended up with an emergency C-section, so I can’t speak with any authority about labor and transition–but my opinion is that whatever effect drugs have on the baby, it can’t be serious, or there would be some sort of epidemic of brain damaged babies running around. Most women in the USA use medicated pain control during birth and most babies are born healthy.

I think women should do whatever makes them feel the most comfortable–whether it be natural or medicated. I think it’s kind of mean to insinuate that women who use drugs during labor are somehow damaging their babies, when there is no widespread proof of this. Anecdotes do not count!

As for my baby–I had a spinal block and he was able to latch on and breastfeed right away in the recovery room 20 minutes later, so the drugs didn’t seem to affect his latching ability.

- PSB on May 8th, 2007

She says she can’t understand people who don’t get an epidural… I say I can’t understand people who DO. There was no way a needle that big was going anywhere near me. Plus there’s the whole possibility of the domino factor that leads to a higher risk of c-section. Even with the hideous back labor I had, I went all natural. There’s so many other, natural, ways to ease labor pains. Tub, shower, TENS machine, yoga ball, sterile water shots.

I personally used a tub, shower and the sterile water shots. I had two rounds of the shots, which are only sterile water injected just under the skin on the lower back to ease back labor and lasted 30 minutes each time for me.

*shrug* To each their own though.

- Marie on May 8th, 2007

It is true that throwing up can be a normal part of the birth experience with or without drugs – what’s disappointing and somewhat irresponsible in my opinion is the way she glamourizes the use of drugs during birth. As someone else said, it’s a personal choice and whether you understand or agree with someone’s choice or not, you shouldn’t criticize it. Especially when you are given a national platform to do so on TV.

- Berjoui on May 8th, 2007

Meh. I threw up with both my kids. The first one in the beginning after my water broke before I had my worthless epidural that numbed my left side, but not my right. And the second one throughout my 2 hour rollercoaster labor.

I also pushed for 2 hours with the first one and he had shoulder dystocia so he had to be helped out and came out brusied and ugly.

- Liza on May 8th, 2007

Is is just my imagination, or does Amanda Peet complain a lot? It just seems like every in article I’ve read about her, she is complaining about everything, including her baby.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie she was in or any pre-pregnancy articles featuring her, so maybe this is just her personality?

- Mama Llama on May 8th, 2007

PSB… there’s a high instance of Autism spectrum disorders now, ADD/ADHD, and more disorders (mood, etc). Who’s to say what’s causing all them? I can’t help but think that our modern way of living (including medicated births, quick cord clamping and so much more) is partially responsible. As a parent I feel it’s my duty to minimize each risk to my child that I’m able to. For me, opting for no drugs of any kind during pregnancy and delivery (and nursing) is an easy choice.

- Jean on May 8th, 2007

Mama Llama,

I love that Amanda Peet is complaining. I don’t really even think of it as complaining, more venting. She’s behaving like most of the mamas I’ve known in person… They wear sweatpants, they have huge bags under their eyes, they’re tired, they feel like crap, their bodies are doing strange things, things aren’t working as easily as everyone says they are… this isn’t what they expected. It’s nice for potential mums to see a balanced range of experiences. It would be horrific for a first time mum to bring their bub home with only the perfect, media-sweet representations portrayed by most celebs. Mums need all views so they don’t feel inadequate.

- Lilybett on May 8th, 2007