Phobia of being sick - Induction

[KateJ59]

Hi all,

Firstly I am fully aware labour can make you sick and I am trying to deal with that (with my therapist and through hypnobirthing) so please refrain from telling me that. I have a severe phobia of vomiting (emetophobia)

my midwife has told me that I can have anti sickness given to me every few hours.

I have been told however I may need to be induced at 37/38 weeks and I am now petrified of THAT making me sick.

Does anyone have any advice - positive stories to share?

Thanks 🙏

I used to be the same as you with the fear that I’d get a sickness bug or have to deal with someone being sick close to me because of the smell and noises etc. I then became a nurse so had to get over my fear pretty quickly. I’ve found that if you mentally remove yourself from the situation it makes it a lot easier. I’ve also found that I can breathe in a different way so that I can’t smell it (but Vaseline in the nostrils/ vicks to sniff works wonders with that issue too) just some tips for the future if you ever have a sick child to deal with.

@humpty11 can you tell more about how you "remove yourself" from the situation? When the kids are sick it would really, really help if I could do this!! (Sorry for the derail btw)

I'm emetophobic, been induced three times and didn't feel sick once. I was given pethidine in one labour but they gave an anti sickness jab at the same time so it didn't effect me. There really is so much going on it's easy to push it to the back of your mind.

Too much gas and air can make you sick. I was on it for hours and didn't take much normal oxygen. So at the end after giving birth, I have always thrown up. But at least the gas and air worked. Its the only pain relief I take in established Labour

I’ve been induced 3 times and had gas and air each time and never felt remotely sick.

Hi @KateJ59 I also have the same phobia. I was induced and wouldn’t take any painkillers they were offering as I didn’t want to be sick, I had an anti sickness injection which then ironically made me sick!!! It wasn’t too bad though. I avoided gas and air as didn’t want to be sick. Ended up having no an epidural and wasn’t sick anymore.

I was induced and got the whole cocktail of drugs pesseries gas and air and epidural and I didn’t feel sick at all at any stage, not once so you could be totally sick feeling free!!! I was bloody glad of the epidural though didn’t feel a thing once I got it!!! Even napped a little!!

I'm emetaphobic. I wasn't induced but did have to have my waters broken then the syntocin drip due to failure to progress. I refused pethidine due to it possibly causing nausea and sleepy babies. I was worried about gas and air but once I tried it I realised as soon as it made the room spin I just had to put it down and I'd feel fine in seconds. I had an epidural once I went on the syntocin. At no point did I feel nauseous. I didn't want to eat till it was over though.