if you are scared of needles and pregnant.... what can you do?

July 13, 2007 5:32am CST
hey there, i'm 20 years old and about 13 weeks along with my first pregnacy, but there is a snag. i am deathly afraid of needles... the nurses have refused to let me have any kind of local anesthetic because apparently "i am old enough to know better." has anybody else had the same problem? if so how did you handle it, and am i actually entitled to anesthetic by law or anything like that? any help would be greatly apreciated. cheers Rofriki
3 responses
@Mahini (14)
• Australia
13 Jul 07
Congratulations on your pregnancy, you are about to go through the most amazing experiance of your life ... like you i was scared too and i helped myself by picturing my baby in my arms, not just a baby but i pictured the little nose and the fuzzy hair i imagined the color of its eyes ... you can practice doing this at home the more you practice the easier it gets ... ive had 4 children and each time i had to have a needle this is what i would do ... each visit to the clinic and each needle you have will bring you one step closer to holding your beautiful baby in your arms ...once your baby arives as a mother you will do anything you can to protect it ... think of it that way as well ... they can tell alot from blood tests and by you having them you are protecting your child ... a friend of mine found out by having tests done that she had a certain antibody that could cause something to happen when giving birth, so the doctors knew that by giving her a shot of something it would fix the problem ...you do realy need to have the tests so if you can just think about your little one and how beautiful he/she is going to be while this is happening it might help you ... good luck and best wishes to you
16 Jul 07
thank you both, for your kind responses. i went to the hospital today and bit the bullet...(and my husband!) i had my scan, and then went off to face the "vampire people" with their "pointy things of doom"....(well sort of) i had 2 vials taken out.... not nice but i didint scream this time which is on the plus side.... i then went to hand in my sample in a pot to the midwife... to be told i had forgotten to pick up my other blood forms, so i had to go and have more done..... so i did that.... being halfway up the walls by now.....(this was where i bit him):) to be told that the woman had forgotten to take blood for another form that she had forgotten to do.(so i bit him again!) 3 in one day....8 or 9 vials of blood and puncture holes in both arms.... if i belived in the divine i would have thought i was on a camera show or you've been framed.... apparently the universe has a sence of humour about the whole thing....
• United States
18 Jul 07
I'm Terrified of needles and cry every single time I get a shot or blood drawn...which is a lot because I'm in the military. I don't know if people like us ever get used to it...but I do think that the end result of all the pregnancy "sticks" - the baby - is worth it.
@maximax8 (31055)
• United Kingdom
13 Jul 07
Good luck with your pregnancy. I had my baby in May and he is now seven weeks old. He is my second, my first son was born 12 years ago. I have never liked the idea of having a hospital birth. So I had home births with both my children. I think a natural and active birth is best for me. You do not have to have any blood tests if you don't want to. You could tell your midwife that you are very afraid of needles. You could have ultra sound tests and this would tell the medical people much about your baby. I went to a pregnancy class with the National Childbirth Trust. They were so helpful with information about everything. They covered in detail the different types of pain relief available during birth. I used water, gas and air and relaxation for my first birth. It took about 8 hours. I didn't have time for any pain relief for my second birth of about two hours. My water pool had bot finished filling when my baby boy was born. Then I had a natural third stage.