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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

How many of you were sick during labour?

129 replies

mostlyalurker · 12/06/2008 09:22

My lovely niece is choosing weather to train to become a midwife. She is really keen but is not good with sick at all. She feels that as she wants to do it so bad, she shouldn't let this phobia stop her. This is the only thing thats holding her back. Do you think she could cope?

OP posts:
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Ellbell · 13/06/2008 14:08

I was sick just once in labour, when I hit transition. I felt very sick at home before I went into hospital too, but wasn't actually sick (though I had terrible diarrhoea).

I am emetophobic and was really scared of being sick. However, when it came to it, I didn't react to the vomiting at all as I would normally have done. I suppose I had other things on my mind! I just got on with it and, although unpleasant, it didn't make me feel panicky or out of control (as vomiting - my own or someone else's - would normally do) at all.

Incidentally, there was no midwife in the room when it happened. I was in the bath and dh was with me. (He caught it in a cardboard bowl thingy, and a midwife came and dealt with it.)

I think that it would be a shame if the OP's niece was put off being a midwife by this fear, although I understand why she might be (I would be, tbh). Dealing with sick is not a major part of the job, but I think it's fairly clear that it will happen occasionally, and she will need to be prepared to deal with it. I have had counselling for my phobia, which has helped a little bit (at least, with controlling the panic symptoms a bit - not with getting rid of the basic phobia), but I am told that CBT can be effective with this. It's worth exploring, for sure.

Oh, and I agree with whoever it was who said that, if this is emetophobia, it's not the same as just being squeamish. I can deal with any amount of blood, shit, pus, whatever. I just cannot 'do' sick.

Marne · 13/06/2008 14:23

I was'nt sick with eiter of mine, felt sick on gas and air with dd1, with dd2 i felt fine all the way through.

aiti72 · 13/06/2008 15:15

I puked like that girl in Exorcist for four hours straight!! Would sertiously think twice about midwivery if I had sensitivities about bodily fluids!

fransmom · 13/06/2008 15:21

i was sick too but it was more like bile stuff. horrid. i had g+a early but didn't like it at all, paracetamol helped me be sick - as soon as i took it for the pain, i threw up! so nothing worked.

auntyspan · 13/06/2008 15:29

No idea.

There were things coming out of every orifice so stopped taking notice after a couple of hours

wearymum200 · 13/06/2008 15:32

Every time had a contraction. DH was handy with the bowl. I think lots of healthcare workers don't like sick but get reasonably used to it...
Puke much worse than poo imho

corblimeymadam · 13/06/2008 15:58

This reply has been deleted

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spugs · 13/06/2008 17:02

i spewed after dd1 & 2 because of the stuff they give you to make the placenta pop out. with dd3 i was induced and had an epidural and was sick twice, the second time it was when i was flat on my back in theatre and a large amount of it went on the mw!! my sister is a trainee mw and sick and poo seems to be mentioned quite a bit

Eirlys · 13/06/2008 18:03

I lost count of the number of cardboard bowls that I filled up during labour. The midwife showed DH where they were kept so that she could just leave us to it.

Incidentally, why are the bowls so small? I just wanted a big bucket so that I could keep puking without worrying about it splashing everywhere!

mamalovesmojitos · 13/06/2008 18:12

so true eirlys. they are tiny bowls!

its obviously a very common problem. haven't heard of many ppl i know in rl doing it.

i couldn't stop throwing up the whole way through. i vaguely remember at one point being given a jug for a wee sample. i went into the loo, got sick in the jug, came out and gave it to the poor nurse

barbamama · 13/06/2008 20:07

was early in on in first but not in second.

barbamama · 13/06/2008 20:07

was early in on in first but not in second.

FoghornLeghorn · 13/06/2008 20:09

G&A made me sick and prior to this I had been drinking shed loads of lucozade .... not nice !

RUMPEL · 13/06/2008 20:41

Yep I vomited like mad duirng the labour - think it may have been the diamorphine, then immediateley after she was born - with the syntometrine jag. It was so loud that other people came in to see what was happening I am hoping this time I won't be - fingers x!

I would recommend hypnotherapy or cognitive behavioural therapy for her.

girliefriend · 13/06/2008 20:47

If she is not good with bodily fluids then maybe midwifery isn't the right way to go, I was also sick and ended up having a c.section and it doesn't get much more gory than that! However I am a nurse and am amazed at how when I am with a patient bodily fluids of all descriptions really don't bother me, I am sure she would be fine as well when she is in midwife mode! Xxx

DorisIsAPinkDragon · 13/06/2008 21:14

I used to be completely phobic about sick but then decided to become a nurse it soon became second nature to deal with ( but never really a highlight of my day) although for some bizare reason out of the uniform I still can't stand it!!!

I think age has something to do with this as well tho' growing up and seeing the bigger picture, people rarely choose to be sick and they need all the help they can get when feel that under the weather, I throughly recommend work experience to help with the decision making, being around others who " just deal with it" also helps.

MummyMidwife · 13/06/2008 22:03

Hi!
I am in sympathy with your neice!
I am completley terrified of sick, the sound of someone being sick or even feeling sick
But i have just finished my first year of my midwifery degree! i have to say at the moment i am in a two week placement on a medical ward, we have to do this for our clinical skills, and there has been so much sick and poo, something i hated before, and now i still tend to run in the other direction. But i speak to nurses and midwives who have the same problem, and it does get easier to deal with, and you can most of the time avoid it.
Tell her to go for it, there will be help from her gp too!
its the best thing i have ever done, so rewarding xx

CatharsisItIs · 13/06/2008 22:41

Emetophobic here too. I don't dooo sick!!

4 pregnancies (currently in midst of the fourth) 3 births, no sicking. I absolutely darn well refuse to

frecklyspeckly · 13/06/2008 22:57

with ds 1 I rang the bell to tell the midwife I felt sick on the gas and air. She said something like, 'nooo dear, you just feel sick'.Then she bent down low to get something from bedside or possibly my bag and I was sick on floor next to her. I distinctly remember her enthusiasm, along the lines of, so what did you have to eat then? er, I had a full chicken dinner and a pudding because I thought it would be the last tea I could eat uninterupted for the next eighteen years love! (true)

With dd I just felt sick but mananged to stop myself -but then I had a tensmachine, less gas and air required and not so scared and tense.

jaype · 14/06/2008 18:13

Was sick during labour with each of mine. In each case about 30-40 mins before the baby arrived.Seems to be a sign!

paddyclamp · 14/06/2008 20:19

really suprized at this. wasn't sick with either of mine during the birth!

Ambi · 14/06/2008 20:25

Yep, twice - too much Gas & Air.

MsSparkle · 14/06/2008 20:37

I was sick all throughout labour. The first time being in the carpark when dp and i went out for some air. I kept saying "we should clean it up!" and dp had to remind me it was a carpark!

Fidgetsmum · 15/06/2008 15:24

I have a complete isssssssue with being sick and managed to avoid it during pregnancy (a couple of close shaves with morning sickness nausea) but I managed to inhale 7 cannisters of gas and air during birth and felt pretty sick but never actually was sick. I think it completely depends on the individual momma and labour.

ScienceTeacher · 15/06/2008 15:25

I'm a puker. It is a sign of being in transition.

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