30 March 2009

Flight, Fight or Faint...

I passed out twice today while having blood drawn to do my initial OB workup. Today I passed out while giving blood, and then after I awoke I passed out again. My running buddy Duane was the phlebotomist and was so nice. Poor guy came down to the Urgent Care (UC) room where I was taken to rest to check on me and had to tell me that he still had to draw three more tubes of blood. No passing out the last time.

Last March when I had my IUD placed I passed out and went into convulsions. No convulsing today. When I was in high school I gave blood at the Red Cross and passed out. Against my better judgment I gave blood again the next time I could and passed out and convulsed. The Red Cross politely told me they would no longer require my blood. The doc at the UC last year told me that it seemed that when my body was under extreme stress my fight or flight response fails completely and I faint.

Today it crossed my mind that I might pass out while giving birth. That thought frightens me beyond all reason and belief. Of all of the things I've worried about with the prospect of childbirth: epidurals, excrement during delivery, episiotomy, and a million other things, until today fainting was not one of them. I'm so nervous.

I stayed home sick from work today. I went through more than a box of kleenex in the last two days. The OB office called this morning, a week earlier than expected, so I went in to fill out my OB registration paperwork and have my labs done. I'm feeling super drained now. I guess passing out will do that to you.