Third time's a CHARM! not

In my entire life I only remember getting light-headed/queasy/clammy-feeling 3 times. Remember the last time it happened? I wrote all about it here. Yeah, it was super embarrassing and humiliating but hilarious at the same time. I thought I'd learned my lesson and had experienced my "I almost fainted" story that every nurse (and doctor) has, but I was so completely wrong. It happened today. However, the third time I felt this horribly disturbing, I-have-no-control-over-what-is-going-on, feeling I was dumb enough to assume that it would pass if I looked away and thought about something else, made sure to bend my knees and took deep breaths. Wrong again! Because this time I actually FAINTED. Totally. Completely. I was out. 

Despite your assumptions that I was seeing something terribly gruesome and bloody, the culprit was actually the silly, inconsequential thing of watching the anesthesiologist put in an epidural. Yeah, super wimpy, I know. 

The funny thing is that I went in and watched a c-section as soon as I was "recovered" (aka face was no longer deathly white, my BP was back up, and I was no longer clammy and dizzy). And I wasn't bothered in the slightest. Despite the cutting, the blood, the splashing fluid, the cauterizing, the snipping, the pulling, the emerging baby, and the stitching back up. Yeah, I'm ridiculous. 

If you want to know what it feels like to pass out, read on (don't worry, I'm going to describe it, not share something sickening that will make you pass out) 

I was standing in the room, it was about 6:45 am, observing my nurse interacting with the patient. My mind started imagining me in this situation, with my future husband supporting me as I'm about to deliver a baby. The anesthesiologist walks in and starts to prep her skin for the epidural. "Oh, no bid deal, I've seen them come out and I'm definitely comfortable with needles," I thought. He gets his tray ready and then I see it. This black and white striped, thick, extremely long needle. "Whoa, that's a really big needle." He numbed her up with a small needle first and then takes this gigantic thing and shoves it into her back. And she doesn't even flinch. "That is really weird, I can't believe she doesn't feel that going in." Suddenly I started to get a little light headed. "Look away, take a deep breath, think about something else, and you'll be fine," I kept telling myself. So, I started day dreaming (or so I thought). I was very absorbed in this dream when suddenly I hear someone say, "are you ok?!" I cracked my eyes open and the first thought that popped into my head was, "this is a weird dream, I'm glad it's not real life" and then, "oh my goodness, this is real life and I am on the floor in the hospital with all these green scrubbed people looking down at me. I must have fainted. How embarrassing!"  Of course they call for help and give me juice and make me feel even more humiliated about it. And the dad-to-be is over there asking about how I'm doing instead of paying attention to his wife. Darn body, what's wrong with you? 

Like I said, after that I watched a c-section (this was a very strange thing, but really quick), saw another vaginal delivery, inserted my first catheter (yay!) and then went home. It was a very eventful day, and 100% great except for my fainting episode. 

Lesson learned: sit down when you feel light headed! You won't win this, no matter how hard you try.  However, this experience was far less embarrassing than the last time, when I really didn't faint. But being completely realistic, I was really blessed not to hit my head or get injured when I fell. If it wasn't for that, I'd say fainting is the way to go instead of drawing all the attention to yourself by saying you're about to faint...

Here's to hoping this will never happen again. Cheers! 

p.s. This was my last day on Labor/Delivery. :( But, next week I'm in Pediatrics!