I sympathize. I am a huge needlephobe and I’m having a c-section in 15 days. I am having my tubes tied at the same time and checking on some cancer cells and such so a c-section is the absolute best choice but it means I have to have a spinal. A big fucking needle right in my spine and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it. I’m terrified but at the same time I am miserable being pregnant. I can’t sleep, I’m uncomfortable all the time, and my whole body hurts, but at the same time I’d rather stay pregnant forever than have a spinal or an epidural. Nobody really understands how much this scares me and they keep telling me that I won’t feel it or that any pain won’t matter because my baby will be more important in my mind but that stuff is easy to say when you don’t have a fear of needles.
Hey, pbbth, did you know that anesthesiologists no longer give epidurals with needles?
Nope, first they distract you with a box of kittens, and then they have a muscular and sexy but totally non-threatening Swedish masseur give you a foot rub. Once you’re relaxed, they bring in a Vulcan who sneaks up behind you and gives you a modified Vulcan Nerve Pinch. Not only will you not feel a thing, but the Swedish masseur switches to giving you a scalp massage, and you get to keep playing with the kittens until your baby’s out. Then you get to hold your baby.
You’re not buying this, are you? Well, if it were up to me, it’s how epidurals would be done.
Oh bless your heart I know exactly what you mean. I was so afraid I thought I would have my baby naturally like I did with my first. I’d rather endure the pain of labor than an epidural, but then my blood pressure shot up so they had to give me an IV (I’d refused IV fluids but they warned me I might need it eventually) with something…I forget what it was they gave me but it relaxed me slightly. Then the baby’s face was turned the wrong way so there was more pressure and the pain became so great that I just didn’t care anymore.
And of course it WASN’T that bad, not the pain of the needle, no worse than what I was already feeling. It was all about that anticipation.
I think they should give us sweet candy lozenges that knock us out for the last two months of pregnancy. I’d be fine with that!
Nope they sure don’t. I only met one, right after I had my second daughter. The phlebotomist came in and said I had to have a blood draw a few hours after the baby was born. I refused and she tried to make out like I was going to get beaten if I didn’t. The doc came in with several students and told them that occasionally they’d encounter a patient like me and to treat me with respect because a phobia IS a medical condition. Then he told me to stick out my tongue. He told me if my tongue wasn’t pink enough I might be anemic, but I looked fine. That was all they were checking for anyway.
I don’t know what they can give you when you’re about to deliver, but anesthesiologists have an enormous number of drugs at their fingertips. If you convince them of how scared you are, they’re likely to find something to help you “relax”.
I don’t know about having a baby either, but my dentist will perscribe one valium before my appointments because he thinks its easier to deal with me when I’m relaxed. Needles don’t scare me, dentists do.
From what I have heard, this is not uncommon.
Again, I’ve never experienced having babies, but guesses that giving happy pills to mama and baby might not be a good idea.
It’s a very fine balancing act, because having mama too stressed out and scared, with BP and heart rate through the roof, can be just as bad for baby.
Amazon’s selection of $5 albums this month sucks ass. Yes, first world problems.
I’m sure it is,** Sierra**. I did say that I have no idea about that. My first hand experience is watching cats have kittens and then eating the afterbirth. I’d so need like 4 or 5 valiums for that.
Due to me being an outlier, I honestly thought that people ate the afterbirth until I was like 16 or something. I thought that was why the husbands on TV always fainted.
I have no idea what pregnant women go through, but I have a lot of sympathy. One of my friends likened it to pushing an 8 lb bowling ball between her legs. Thats gotta hurt!
From what I’ve heard from my friends, I’m amazed that they ever have sex again. Not only all the throwing up, the bloating, not being able to see their feet for 3 months, but when do they have time?
One of my friends has four kids. From what she has told me, the last one must have happened while they were in an elevator together because that was the only time they had any alone time.
Oh, heck. Sorry for the double post, but you did remind me to get some more free books for my reader. I only have 30 and I’m starting to feel insecure. Now, the problem is figuring out which cord works for which electronic thingy.
yeah, totally first world
And plenty of non-US or Canadians posting on this board too 
What if it was roasted, or in a nice lasagne? Would that cut down on the valium required?
I had a C-section also, and the anesthesiologist described the big needle and where it was going to go right before she did it. I was quite peeved with her for telling me about it, because my mind created a visual that was so much worse than the actuality. Shit, the cold in the operating room was worse.
We have a different problem here - a total lack of responsible drinking from 18-22. Drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, but many people consider it a rite of passage.
To all you needle-phobes - while I don’t share your fear, I don’t exactly like needles, either, and feel there must be a better way. I am going to be getting allergy shots soon. Where are our hyposprays? IT’S 2011. Get with the program.
You know, when I call you on the phone and you have to look up something on the computer, when a 3-second delay occurs you do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT have to say one of the following lines:
- The computer is slow.
- Just when I need something from it, the computer is acting up - I’m sorry.
- I apologize that this is taking so long.
- I’m sorry that you have to wait… I’m waiting on the computer.
I’m calling you, a major insurance carrier/Walgreens/other large company, in regards to a question about my account. You have to enter the data and wait while your servers run through billions of lines of linked data in dozens, hundreds of tables, just to get my information on the screen - this can take a few seconds, I understand. It used to be that it would take days for an answer, so even if it takes a WHOLE 13 SECONDS(!) to run the query, I’m good - no excuses necessary.
So, please, in the future, don’t say anything until the 15 second mark, at least.
kthxbye
I am a HUGE needle phobic. I remember having to go to the hospital at 4 to get my head stitched up after running into a wall and the nurses having to hold me down (while I screamed bloody murder) to give me a shot. I have had a severe phobia since forever and can’t even watch it on TV. Most people are understanding, but one person did laugh at me. She made me sit up as she drew blood - even though I told her I needed to be horizontal. I passed out on her and bled all over her floor. HAHA BITCH!
However, I actually did get over most of it. BUT, (huge BUT) since 2010 I have been in extreme pain and needles are the least of my worries now. I have been stuck and poked so many times, nerve blocks, multiple surgeries… My pain threshold is very high now, and I guess I’m just too tired to get too worked up about it. I still hide my eyes and squeeze a stress toy.
Now for my bitchfest…
The nerve blocks I have been having have failed to bring me relief, and now I get to have an obturator nerve neurolysis and abdominal neurectomy which is a major surgery where they rip my nerve out of whatever is trapping it and cut off a couple other nerves - or something like that. FUCK MY BODY. :mad:
So minor, but so annoying: I love to bake, and the weather is finally cool after a hellish summer, so I want to bake. But one of the smoke detectors, located 25 freaking feet from the stove, goes off every freaking time I open the hot oven. And of course, it’s hardwired, not battery operated, so I guess I need an electrician unless I want all of my daily and holiday baking to be accompanied by the sound of my cursing and the German shepherd going into full panic mode… Yeah, I know. First world problem and all that.
Have you tried replacing it? I had a hard-wired smoke detector which went off every time I took a shower in high humidity. I don’t know if the old one was defective or had become erratic with age, but I just replaced with another of the same brand and it was fine. Usually, if you’re replacing with the same brand it doesn’t require any rewiring.
It never fails to amaze me. My father would never treat a stranger with anything less than respect, courtesy, and kindness, even if he’s had a monumentally bad day. However, he will, without even thinking about it, throw hissy fits - literally stomping, slamming doors, snapping, and so on - at my mom and me. She and I have two choices in dealing with it - verbally hold him accountable, which will send him into an emotional tailspin, throw his blood pressure completely out of whack, and quite possibly blow his abdominal aortic aneurysm (bye, Dad) OR shrug it off and wait for him to stop being an asshole.
I had to leave the room, because if I’d stayed, I think I would have ended up cutting my dad into small pieces, holding each piece up in front of his eyes and explaining that the sum of the parts of his dick-osity was less than the total dick-osity he likes to pull when he knows he can get away with it. Mom agreed it was a wise choice.
But, hey, he is improving a little bit. He did actually admit that he has a drinking problem. Not that he’s cut back, no, but he’s admitted it. Every little bit, right?