Husband almost fainting at ultrasound/ midwife appointments

[Rose459]

Bit of an odd one but I wonder if any of you have any experiences of this.

My husband is lovely, very supportive and we are so excited to welcome our baby girl in July.

Problem is, he has this fear/ panic attack situation in medical settings. It has happened when they’re explaining procedures. When they said I had a cyst at an ultrasound and also when we did my birth plan- she was explaining epidurals etc. so not even seeing any blood. He’ll go as white as a sheet and then need to lie down! Kind of hijacking my appointment (he feels really bad about it though!)

I know it’s not his fault but it is fraustrating. After all this is something that is going to happen to me and I don’t want to have to deal with his issues when I’m in labour. I’m worried about how supportive he’s actually going to be able to be.

We’ve done NCT and he coped with most of that. But it seems like we’re back to square one now.

Anyone’s OH the same?

Thank you tryingtostay that’s all really helpful :)

Keeptrudging makes a good point about Beta blockers. I went through a period of anxiety and being panicy were I wanted to run off (usually a plane) and was given a packet of these. You take a couple and they work on physical symptoms i.e. reduce heart rate a bit to stop the fight or flight response and as a result your brain thinks you aren't in a panic.

My DH is/ was like this. I had to have a C section for no.2 and he told me a few days before that he didn't know if he could come in and be there. I went ballistic and he did it in the end. I think for both my births he was not down the business end and didn't see any gore so he was able to help me out.

My husband has an extreme needle phobia. As soon as you talk about injections anywhere near him his ears start ringing and he'll feel faint. My midwife suggested he should bring a set of earphones to the birth that he can plug into his phone to listen to some music or radio whenever medical stuff is happening. And she urged me to make medical staff aware of this issue upon arrival. That way they can keep an eye on him and send him for a walk if need be. This isn't at all uncommon. I know my husband would be out like a light during an epidural so I plan to make him leave the room should I need/want one.
I know it's a worry on top of your own worries but I think you're at least lucky you know of this issue before the day and can try and work with it. If you want him there, just be prepared that he might have to leave you for a bit every once in a while to cool down. Personally, I'd rather tell him not to be brave and try and power through when he feels funny but go away and come back when he can be useful again ;)