Extreme phobia of vomit. Labour vs c-section?

[Helpmeoutt]

Can anyone give me their honest experiences of vomiting during labour / delivery or during a C-section please?

What caused the vomiting?
Can anything be done to stop or prevent it?
Which birthing option is more likely to experience vomiting?

I’m not scared of birth, needles, blood or pain but the idea of vomit fills me with the worst anxiety and dread. I can’t stress enough how bad my phobia is.

I threw up a lot during labour with DS when pushing. I felt nauseous during my csection with DD but they just pushed anti-sickness through my canula and it went away after less than 30 secs

Ah this is a really tough one OP. I vomited at the beginning of my (elective) section because the spinal anaesthetic caused my blood pressure to drop. The anaesthetist wasn’t concerned, apparently a common side effect. The nausea and vomiting passed once my blood pressure came up and stayed up (with drugs until the spinal wore off).

I think whatever way you move forward asking for anti-sickness medication in advance is probably sensible.

I have had two inductions, threw up horrendously with one but not the other. I have no idea why this was.

I work in maternity theatres and see loads of women vomit. A spinal anaesthetic drops your blood pressure which causes nausea and many women do vomit with it. It also causes shaking which can be so much at times it causes women to vomit. Not to mention all the tugging and movement that you can still feel (no pain, just movement and touch). The anaesthetist can give you an antiemetic for it though, but you'd probably have to ask for it before you started feeling sick, as usually it's given as cure rather than prevention.

two vaginal births here

I vomited inbetween contractions with my first born . With my second , I didn’t at all. I struggle with vomit normally but it was different during labour . Vomit was the least of my worries and it wasn’t even gross .

Everything is different in labour . For example , I was hot during labour and thought it was best to take off ALL my clothes and labour completely naked without a care in the world whereas in real life I get nervous in a bikini in public 😂. With my second born I turned psychotic swearing at everyone ( I’m normally a calm people pleaser ).

The person you are in labour is not who you think you will be.

I had pethadine in both labours and before they gave me that I got an anti sickness jab so no vomiting or nausea. One labour ended in an emcs

Was sick throughout my section

My baby was back to back so I had a very long labour for 4 days. Every time I tried to eat something to keep my strength up, I vomited immediately. I think your body clears everything out. I also felt very sick with the gas and air so would not take that again. Hope this helps.

I am a person who vomits quite a lot in life so I expected to vomit during labour. I had a normal physiological labour and didn't vomit once.

Me too. Took two antiemetic shots to stop me after DS!

you can get anti sickness medication- they’ll give you an injection in the arse. Put it in your birth plan and tell te midwife as soon as you get to the hospital.

i vomited profusely in labour until the injection.

I felt very sick in my elective c section but the anaesthetic gave me loads of meds to stop me and I didn’t.

I’ve had 2 natural labours, didn’t vomit in either of them - in my second I felt quite sick so they gave me an anti sickness thing just in case. My mum had an elective c section and she was incredibly sick apparently which really put me off, although I appreciate that’s not everyone’s experience!

Two vaginal births. Vomited because of the pain during the first one. Almost threw up during the second due to going wild with the gas and air 😅but my midwife told me to go easy and I think in the end it was averted

In your situation I'd go c-section. It's a short operation, and you have the anaesthetist right there sat by your head talking to you as needed and looking after you 1 on 1 throughout. You can talk to them beforehand about your phobia and concerns, and they can give you anti sickness medication as needed.

Labour is long, and you don't have the same access to instantaneous medication because the staffing is less intense and it can take a long time to get meds.

Listen. I am emetaphobe too and what also terrified, I mentioned this to someone who was married to a midwife, the next day he told me his wife recommended I ask for anti sickness medicine (injection) in my birth plan.
I ended up with the emergency c section I asked for the injection anyway which they have straight away. Such a relief.

I wasn't sick at all, I gave birth naturally without pain relief.

However babies are sicky creatures, I suggest getting preventative help

I vomited with both natural birth and c-section. And during the pregnancy.

I had a vaginal birth with both.
With DD1 I was fine but with DD2 I vomited about an hour or so after giving birth when I was taken to a room. I think it's just one of those things tbh.
If you ask, you can be given anti-nausea medication and I'm sure given your circumstances I'm sure they'd be happy to oblige xx

I've had 3 sections. 1 elective and 2 emergency. I felt extremely sick with all the 3 of them but I wasn't actually sick. They also gave me anti sickness medicine as soon as I felt nauseous/faint

Hi OP, fellow emetophobe here. I had 2 vaginal deliveries. Vomited (in the bath!) about an hour after delivery with my first, no vomiting with my second.

If it helps at all, I didn’t feel nauseous during labour or for a long time before vomiting, which for me is kind of the worst bit about vomiting, and I felt completely fine after. So it’s not like being unwell where you feel sick before and after. It was more like a bodily reaction without the nausea. Not sure if that explained it very well!

Def ask for the anti emetic. I felt sick after sedation during IVF and was given an anti emetic injection afterwards which worked really well.

I have the same phobia & wasn't sick at all (gas & air then episiotomy).

I put in my notes that I had a severe phobia and did ask for anti sickness drugs before they gave me the injection to deliver the placenta but they said there was no need so I didn't argue as everything was happening so fast and it was all fine in the end.

However as my notes about my phobia weren't really taken into account, you or your partner may need to advocate for this should you feel they're not taking your phobia into account.

I think women often vomit with both modes of birth unfortunately. My DSis and close friend both had EMCS recently and both vomited a lot during and after (and before in the case of DSis too who had been induced first).

I vomited a fair bit in labour with DC1 when I was 3cm for about an hour or two on and off. I had felt very nauseous at home in earlier labour too all day but hadn't been sick then. I also then vomited every time I tried to use the gas and air so quickly gave up on that.

DC2 I was not nauseous and did not vomit at all, and used gas and air successfully for a few hours too.

I had hyperemesis for the first half of both pregnancies, no idea why I was sick in labour with DC1 and not DC2. Both were spontaneous labours with ventouse births.

I vomited after both of my sections. It happened both times after baby was removed from me.

I also have this phobia- although it is improving! I think I was never really a vomity person, I had a couple of bugs when I was a kid <6 then gastroenteritis when I was 20 which was a massive shock. If I drank too much at uni I would sometimes get myself into a state thinking I was going to be sick.
I suffered nausea quite badly in first trimester and vomited once (outside, on the street, after having a protein shake thinking that would help me feel less nauseated. Quite embarassing)
I felt nauseated in labour but what really helped (and I recommend to everyone, along with colostrum harvesting) was smelling a little bottle of peppermint essential oil! I had a water birth with gas and air then needed a spinal block after to be stitched up. I have had surgery twice since then- once with a spinal and then with a GA.
My suspicion is that people who have more of a phobia just don't vomit as much as their bodies are less likely to. But I do recommend the peppermint essential oil.

I also have emetophobia and was worried about this too. As it turns out, I started to feel sick after 24 hours in labour, but by that point I just didn’t care. I wasn’t sick in the end and the nausea passed - I think it was a combo of exhaustion, pain and drugs - but if I had been, it honestly would have been fine.

I gave birth naturally twice and didn’t vomit or even come close to vomiting either time.