My Husband Fainted While I Was in Labor

This post contains affiliate links.  Please read our disclosure policy for full details.

---

I was pregnant with my second baby and felt very ready to deliver. I felt more prepared for labor than with my first delivery, where I had to wait over an hour for the anesthesiologist to get out of surgery to give me an epidural. I prepared myself for that possibility again by practicing some natural labor pain-management techniques such as visualization/meditation and deep breathing.

I had a checkup at 38 weeks with the doctor on a Monday afternoon.  I had a feeling that I might be scheduled to get induced because my swelling had been really bad.  I had pre-eclampsia with my first baby and I was prepared that it could happen again with this pregnancy. So far, all had been well. But at this appointment my blood pressure was high.  Considering my history, the excessive swelling, and a few other indicators, the doctor want to get him out.  So I was scheduled for an induction the next morning.

We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. We got settled in, and finally we got an IV with pitocin to start labor around 8 a.m. I started feeling the contractions pretty quickly and I was really debating on when to request the epidural.  I had considered trying to go without one if I went into labor naturally, but I knew if I had an induction I was going to get an epidural because I was familiar with the intensity and rapid progression of the pitocin contractions and I didn’t think I could do it.

The Epidural

I was feeling the contractions pretty intensely around 9 a.m., and we requested the epidural about 9:30 a.m.  The anesthesiologist got there around 10 a.m. and started the procedure.  She had to try several times to get it in the right place and it seemed liked it was taking forever.  The nurse was standing in front of me, holding me still and supporting some of my weight. My husband was behind her watching.

Getting an epidural can be tricky and frustrating, because you are supposed to sit in a certain position and stay still, but you are still having intense contractions.  I tried my best to stay relatively still, and it was taking all my energy and concentration to focus on getting through the contractions calmly.

The anesthesiologist was trying to test if things were in the right place, and suddenly I felt a sharp pain and tingling in my leg, and my leg jerked forward.  It was a weird feeling and they waited to see if it would go away or whether they needed to fix the placement again.  It seemed to be pressing up against a nerve.  My leg kept twitching with that same knee-jerk reaction several more times and I started to get upset. 

At that point my husband started to feel lightheaded and dizzy.  He said, “I don’t feel so good.” The anesthesiologist, nurse, and I simultaneously yelled, “Sit down!” I knew he was going to pass out. I don’t know why, I just did.  I couldn’t look at my husband because I was trying to stay calm and focus on remaining still, breathing through my contractions, and waiting to see if the leg pain/tingling would go away.  

He Fainted

Then I heard a strange noise come from my husband, almost like he was vomiting. I could see him kind of slumped over out of the corner of my eye. This really freaked me out because I couldn’t see him and I didn’t know what was going on. Was he sick? Was he going to die?! Were they going to take him away to check on him?!?! AM I GOING TO HAVE TO FINISH THIS LABOR ALL ALONE WITH NO FREAKIN EPIDURAL THAT WORKS?!

I started crying which made things even more difficult because YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO SIT STILL EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE IN LABOR while the anesthesiologist finished up placing the epidural once again. Luckily the nurse was really helpful and calming and helped me to feel better (Labor & Delivery nurses are amazing!).

It turned out that he did pass out for about 20 seconds, but he didn’t really throw up. He just made a strange noise when it happened. The anesthesiologist said people pass out all the time and that’s part of the reason why they really don’t like people watching the procedure (which made me wonder why the let him in the first place).  Apparently there is something triggering about watching certain procedures, especially on your loved ones and when there are complications, that causes a change in blood pressure and people pass out pretty frequently. I don’t know whether that is true, but it seemed to make sense.

Afterwards

He came to and didn’t realize he had passed out. I was still kind of panicking and I just kept saying, “Are you ok? Are you ok?” He sat on the ground for a while to make sure he felt completely fine before getting up again. After a while he felt like normal and was back by my side and holding my hand. I was so thankful.

Meanwhile, the tingling in my leg went away and I got a “test dose” of medicine in the epidural catheter.  It started working right away, but after a while I realized it worked a little TOO well.  I was completely and absolutely numb up to my chest area and even kind of tingly in my arms.  I did not like that at ALL and I didn’t feel right.  It was scaring me.  I started to feel nauseous also, but they gave me some anti-nausea medicine and I felt better.  Some of the extreme numbness wore off and I was very relieved.  The anesthesiologist came back several more times to check up on me and gave me the regular dose of epidural meds and things seemed to be fine after that. 

So all of that craziness actually took up a lot of time.  It was probably about 11:30 a.m. at this point, and I had progressed to about 5 cm.  After that I got drowsy and was able to rest and catnap for a while.  I actually felt really sleepy the rest of the labor and was very comfortable.  About an hour later the nurse came and checked me and I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing.  She said she was going to count to 10, but when she got to 2, she told me to stop because the baby was right there!  She called the doctor and he got there pretty quickly.  They asked me to start pushing again and counted to 10 and he pretty much slid right out!  I really wasn’t pushing that hard.  Two more seconds of pushing and he was completely and all the way out. 

It was rather calm, actually.  That’s the upside of all the epidural craziness. It ended up being a good experience once everything balanced out because I was numb in the birth canal but had some feeling in other places which made it easy to control what I was doing.  Once my baby was out, he wasn’t really crying yet and the doctor was clearing out his airway carefully and calmly, and my son let out a few little whimpers.  He was actually pretty quiet even as he was laid down on top of me and while he was getting cleaned up afterwards. He just had little cries, not much screaming or anything. He was born at 12:42 p.m. weighing 6 pounds, 15 ounces and was 20 inches long.

I had a small tear so I got stitched up. My baby nursed right away and it was such a happy moment realizing that he was here with us and apart of our family.  His eyes were wide open and he was looking around as if he was wondering where he was and what was going on.

When our older son came to meet the baby, he noticed the hospital bassinet and said, “hey, a baby!”  He kept looking at him, smiling at him, touching his hands, and patting him softly on the head.  He also got concerned whenever he heard the baby make a noise.  He would quickly look at us and say, “Baby cryin’!” or “baby okay?”  

In the end, everything was fine and everyone was healthy. It sure was scary in the moment, though. So much can happen so quickly during the process of having a baby. Sometimes I still cannot believe all of that happened, but I’m grateful that the end result was another beautiful baby boy and we were together and safe.

We took him home two days later and haven’t had too much drama related to him in the years since. I guess we got it all in one dose during that birth!

I wouldn’t choose to have it happen that way again, but it does make a pretty good story now.

Do you like reading birth stories? Read about my third labor and delivery where my epidural did not work!

Are you looking for a car seat for your newborn?

Here are a few car seat recommendations that I have used myself and while working as a Child Passenger Safety Technician. We always say the best car seat is the one that fits your vehicle, your baby, and that you can install correctly every time–but these are generally easy to install and work well for a lot of families.

Are you concerned about your birth plan and postpartum?

We can’t always predict how things are going to go, but planning can certainly help! Check out these super helpful resources: a Pregnancy Planner and Postpartum Handbook for additional support.