Vomiting in labour - third stage

[Santatizer]

I had an EMCS for my last pregnancy (14 years ago!) due to malpresentation - baby was undiagnosed breech. I had antiemetics prior to the section due to phobia of vomiting. This time, I am keen to try a VBAC (though not 100% decided!) and have already asked my midwife if I can have antiemetics - all good. I am especially worried about transition and particularly the third stage - I have read a few vomit horror stories about syntometrine / syntococin. I will be making sure antiemetics stay topped up (or asking DH too!) but I am still worried. Has anyone had active management of third stage and not experienced nausea and vomiting? I know lots of people say they were sick in labour and didn't care, even those with a phobia, but I know I definitely will care and that it will cause such significant anxiety that it could really impede things, since being as relaxed as possible is important, and make it a traumatic experience. Any positive experiences would be really appreciated.

I was sick, but in the early stages. A nurse told me: good! Vomiting means quick Labour

I stopped throwing up once fully dilated (I was only sick for 10-20 mins on and off)

Then baby born quickly (nurse was right)

Good luck. I don’t know anyone else who was sick, so I think it’s rare

I vomited in my second labour but not my first. Honestly the vomiting was from the pain as it only happened when the epidural were off. If my pain hadnt been managed I'm sure I wouldn't have vomited but the midwife wanted me to feel the contractions. Good luck

I vomited in my first labour but not the second. It seems to be totally random. I couldn't tell you what triggered it. Didn't have any drips etc either time.

@Santatizer I vomited, but I think it was a side effect of taking diamorphine. If you thought avoiding that would help?

I vomited in the waiting room! It was that that got me to the front of the queue to be examined and then they knew I was 10cm dilated and could see baby's head! Only time I ever vomited in my life and no idea why!

I vomited in both; it was actually worse with second, but was a much faster labour. I started to feel nauseous and asked for anti sickness medication as soon as it was building during second labour. It took a while to work, but it did. I had a vanilla already in place due to PPH.

*cannula

I only vomited because the gas and air made me feel dizzy. As soon as i had been sick once, I didn't feel dizzy or nauseous any more. With my second I wasn't nauseous at all.

I've never vomited in labour (one natural, one induction, one EMCS). I've got emetophobia too so was very worried about it, but it never happened.

I vomited in my labour; it was after the diamorphine had worn off but before the anesthetist arrived to do my epidural. I was in a lot of pain (on the max hormone drip), the midwife tried to get me up and mobile and I boked all over her.

I ended up with an EMCS due to failure to progress so the midwife upthread's theory didn't apply in my case!

I have so much sympathy for you OP; I have a bird phobia, and if I imagined a pigeon flapping about the ceiling whilst I was in labour was a realistic prospect it would be enough for me to take to my bed for a week. I think you're really brave!

I am a doula and I don't usually see women vomit during the third stage even with syntometrine, which is routinely given here (not UK). I actually don't see that many women vomit during labour so I am surprised to see such a high percentage on this thread said they do..

Two very fast labours, no meds of any kind, I never vomited.

I vomited in labour but it was definitely in response to the pain (I have a strange genetic quirk where I don't respond normally to local anaesthetic so my epidural didn't work). Getting the pain under control is probably key.

They were also able to give me an antiemetic injection which worked really quickly to stop the vomiting even while the pain continued. It might be worth seeing if this could be given early on.

I didn't vomit in labour at all (but spent 32 weeks of pregnancy vomiting so it was an oddly welcome reprieve!) I didn't use any pain relief other than gas and air, if I felt too dizzy I just took a but break from it. I know a lot of people who've had pethidine have vomited afterwards so maybe it depends in part on what you opt for?

I have emetophobia too. I retched a bit and immediately asked for anti sickness drugs (I think stemetil was what they gave me, two tablets to dissolve in my mouth) and it stopped it totally.

I was induced with syntocin and didn't vomit or feel particularly nauseous, even though they threw a hell of a lot of syntocin at me.

There are so many possible causes for vomiting in labour/on delivery and the treatment/prevention for each is different. Several of the antiemetics make no pharmacological sense really, but there’s probably a strong element of placebo effect and if that works then that’s great. Ergometrine is sometimes used in sections too so opting for an elective section wouldn’t remove that particular risk. Perhaps it’d be helpful to try and address the emetophobia before the day? Hope it all goes well.

I was vomiting in perhaps 2nd stage (I’ve forgotten what the different stages are!), not due to pain but vomiting very 20-30 mins. They injected ondansetron I believe and the effect was pretty instantaneous. I remember feeling like the midwife thought I could stop both vomiting and peeing with contractions and it was a bit unreasonable of her, I wasn’t doing it deliberately. But if you warn them beforehand they can give you something pretty quickly so I wouldn’t stress about it.

I had a vbac, fantastic experience , no nausea or vomiting. I’d highly recommend giving it a go, the recovery is so much quicker. Best of luck!

I had no nausea or vomiting in any of my three labours. Far too much of both in all the pregnancies though.

I was sick during labour with DS1, but I think it was because of being on the drip, lack of food and then trying to use gas and air. I got really bad shakes and was sick, they ended up giving me anti-sickness meds to stop it. I wasn't sick during my 2nd labour, I didn't have to have the drip & was absolutely fine on the gas and air. I think maybe the sickness I had first time around was because of the drip.

I had a managed third stage in all three of my deliveries, and had no vomiting at that point, despite having vomited at earlier stages in the first two.

During my 1st labour, early stage, the midwife ran me a nice bath and disappeared off.
I felt sick, no bowls in the room. Poor dh stepped up to the plate and let me throw up in his hands.
He's my hero.

Syntometrine has the side effect of vomiting. It’s the ergometrine in it as opposed to the syntocinon that has that effect. It depends what tocolytic drug they use for an active third stage. For CS we used 5iu of IV syntocinon but other units may be different. Having said that a lot of women vomit due to the reduced BP from the spinal so it might be worth preparing yourself for every eventuality.

First labour I vomited after delivery. Second labour I vomited once early on. Third labour - once at the beginning (having been told nothing was happening and to eat a decent dinner) and once after an hour or so. With the last two there was no vomiting at all.