Friday, January 20, 2006

Labor Sickness


Prior to getting pregnant, I had heard plenty about morning sickness. I'd never heard anything about labor sickness. I was completely caught off guard. I went into labor with my daughter in the early evening of Saturday, June 29th, 2002. It was a full moon and I just knew my baby was arriving that night. Once the hard labor pains (which feel like your worst drop-you-to-your-knees PMS or gas cramps times 100) were becoming 5 mins apart, I became violently ill. The hormone fluxuation made me physically ill as is the case with morning sickness-though I had it coming out of both ends. IT WAS AWFUL. The vomiting and diarrhea threw off my contractions too. Soon, they became farther apart and there was no longer a need to go to the hospital. I continued to feel labor pains sporadically. As soon as the time between the contractions narrowed to around 5 mins, the sickness returned. On Monday, July 1st, I called my doctor's office to inform them I was still experiencing contractions and was still sick. My doctor (whom I dearly love) assumed that I had contacted a virus and suggested safe medicines to ease the symptoms. I knew this was no virus-I was only ill during the most painful contractions. But, not knowing other women have suffered through this same scenario, I just dealt with it. The next day, I called the doctor's office. I received the same response from the doctor's nurse. She told me, "It's probably a virus, when you have the real contractions, you'll know-they won't stop." Again, I dealt with it-what did I know about having babies? On July 3rd, my mom remembered going through the same thing during her labor with me. That was enough reassurance for me that I know my body. I called the doctor that day and demanded they see me, "I'm in labor and it's making me ill and causing the contractions to slow down. I'm so weak from vomiting and diarrhea. I'm coming in." When I entered the doctor's office, the nurses' mouths dropped open. I swear my doctor's eyes watered up. They felt horrible. They knew I was very ill. My eyes were dark from no sleep and I was quite pale-no glow of a pregnant lady here. The nurse weighed me and I had lost 8 pounds-when you're pregnant that is a very bad thing. I was immediately hospitalized and given 3 IV bags to re-hydrate me. I was also given some phenagrin to stop the nausea and diarrhea. It was then I found out that dehydration also interferes with contractions. The doctor ran multiple tests of every organ to make sure I didn't have a virus. I did not. I was induced Friday, July 5th. At the hospital, once the pitocin took affect and the contractions got closer together, I became violently ill. I showed them. The doctor apologized for not understanding my situation. I felt alien though-if my doctor wasn't familiar with labor sickness-was I an oddity? Several nurses took care of me during my hospital stay and they told me similar stories of women becoming ill during labor. I finally felt reassurance that I wasn't alone. Now, I wonder which is worse-three months of morning sickness or this?

3 comments:

A. Gator said...

Oh Joy! Something fun to look forward to when I go into labor!!!

Thanks for the head's up! ;)

Kelley said...

Well, according to your blog you had morning sickness-so hopefully you won't go through labor sickness too. Enjoy the rest of the pregnancy!

A. Gator said...

So far, so good! :)