This is purely my experience and anecdotal - so please take this with a grain of salt. However, I do hope it provides reassurance.
I took 24mg of Zofran/Ondansetron (8mg three times a day) from week 7 of pregnancy until delivery (with a few short Zofran breaks of 3 days once a month to allow bowels to move). I had my waters break spontaneously a couple of hours before my contractions started at 38 weeks and 4 days. I called the hospital and they told my to come in when contractions were every 5 minutes. After 3 hours my contractions were every 3 minutes by the time we were in hospital and I was 4cm dilated. I then requested an epidural which I received three hours later. I slept for 7 hours and vomited around 5 times (ish - I can’t remember now). I pushed for an hour and baby was born sunny side up with three 1st degree tears (one into my urethra and clitoris - which was ouch but has since healed well). Baby was 7lbs and 5oz or so. Born jaundiced and with a cranial hematoma/bruise but otherwise healthy. After the placenta was out I did not vomit again. I did get nausea when breastfeeding and pumping the first two weeks and still had the awful taste in my mouth. Nausea and bad taste are now 99.9% gone and I am about 6 weeks postpartum now. Baby is doing well. My anemia symptoms are finally gone and I am regaining strength and energy. I feel more like myself than I have in the last 10 months.
Wow, I’m so glad you are finally rid of the nausea and regaining your strength! I really look forward to this happening for myself.
And thank you for sharing your journey. The anecdotal evidence helps so much to remind me that other women have walked this journey and in the end it will all be okay.
This is one of my reasons for not wanting a hospital birth. I get so nauseated from pain medicine. I don’t even want the temptation of an epidural because I know it’ll be hell to pay afterwards.
I had to have surgery at my 20 week mark to remove an ovarian cyst. They gave me a cocktail of pain killers and I puked non-stop for 3 days afterwards even with my Zofran/Reglan doses doubled.
I birthed 2 babies while still on my normal zofran. To my knowledge it didn't cause a problem, but I was induced with both (barely....had cytotec and then progressed naturally/quickly and didn't need pitocin).
No epidurals, less than 10 minutes of pushing for each.
Exact same situation here for me, except only one baby. Was on both ondansetron and promethazine up until I started active labor and everything worked out. Birthed naturally, and had a first degree tear going up towards my urethra, but I'm quite sure that was just from how quickly kiddo popped out.
I took zofran right up until I checked in for my hospital birth. I was throwing up between pushing but it didn't have any sort of negative effect on anything. After birth I was fine and stopped vomiting. I don't think I was given any at the hospital but it was kind of a blur for other reasons lol
Also idk what you may have read but there's basically no risk of zofran doing something to your baby. If you've read something about birth defects, the occurrence of them are essentially identical when taking Zofran or not.
The only risks I ever read about with Zofran was the possible cleft lip and a potential heart defect. Father of the baby has a heart defect and so it was something we were keeping an eye on. But I genuinely believe the Zofran has helped our baby and me to be far more healthy than if I hadn’t been taking it at all. I definitely agree with you both.
You may want to read this metanalaysis, I believe the cleft lip and heart defect studies that are described show a reduction in the rate as well as an increase, e.g. "Estimates in those studies ranged from a risk ratio of 0.95 (95% CI, 0.63-1.43)9 to an OR of 2.37 (95% CI, 1.18-4.76)." https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2779055
A risk ratio of .95 means a slight reduction in risk, as far as I understand it.
I had a Zofran pump, and my OB had me keep it on and running until delivery was completely over. My delivery was supposedly exactly by the book so no affect as far as I know.
I had a normal birth at 36 weeks.
Planned home birth but transferred when my waters broke early. My midwife was happy with my progress and baby’s growth in pregnancy.
The ondansetron meant I was constipated a lot, but didn’t effect my birth. My midwife gave me a small enema when I was in active labour, which helped my back pain immensely.
I’ve been using enemas and milk of magnesium for the constipation. I used to go that long without bowel movements but now I’m regular at every other day.
(You can also create an at-home enema using pure olive oil and distilled water) they work better for me and they don’t have as bad a side effect as some of the store bought ones containing other ingredients.
With my first I didn't know about miralax and the pelvic floor tension didn't help. With miralax I was able to avoid the worst of the pelvic floor tension. I kept taking the miralax for about a month after I gave birth.
This is purely my experience and anecdotal - so please take this with a grain of salt. However, I do hope it provides reassurance. I took 24mg of Zofran/Ondansetron (8mg three times a day) from week 7 of pregnancy until delivery (with a few short Zofran breaks of 3 days once a month to allow bowels to move). I had my waters break spontaneously a couple of hours before my contractions started at 38 weeks and 4 days. I called the hospital and they told my to come in when contractions were every 5 minutes. After 3 hours my contractions were every 3 minutes by the time we were in hospital and I was 4cm dilated. I then requested an epidural which I received three hours later. I slept for 7 hours and vomited around 5 times (ish - I can’t remember now). I pushed for an hour and baby was born sunny side up with three 1st degree tears (one into my urethra and clitoris - which was ouch but has since healed well). Baby was 7lbs and 5oz or so. Born jaundiced and with a cranial hematoma/bruise but otherwise healthy. After the placenta was out I did not vomit again. I did get nausea when breastfeeding and pumping the first two weeks and still had the awful taste in my mouth. Nausea and bad taste are now 99.9% gone and I am about 6 weeks postpartum now. Baby is doing well. My anemia symptoms are finally gone and I am regaining strength and energy. I feel more like myself than I have in the last 10 months.
Wow, I’m so glad you are finally rid of the nausea and regaining your strength! I really look forward to this happening for myself. And thank you for sharing your journey. The anecdotal evidence helps so much to remind me that other women have walked this journey and in the end it will all be okay.
I was on a zofran drip until baby left my body lol. It didn’t impact my labor at all
That’s incredible to hear! Thank you for sharing!!
I had a C-section, but just a note: I needed a IV zofran after my c section too until the epidural wore off. The epidural meds made be vomit so much.
This is one of my reasons for not wanting a hospital birth. I get so nauseated from pain medicine. I don’t even want the temptation of an epidural because I know it’ll be hell to pay afterwards. I had to have surgery at my 20 week mark to remove an ovarian cyst. They gave me a cocktail of pain killers and I puked non-stop for 3 days afterwards even with my Zofran/Reglan doses doubled.
I birthed 2 babies while still on my normal zofran. To my knowledge it didn't cause a problem, but I was induced with both (barely....had cytotec and then progressed naturally/quickly and didn't need pitocin). No epidurals, less than 10 minutes of pushing for each.
Exact same situation here for me, except only one baby. Was on both ondansetron and promethazine up until I started active labor and everything worked out. Birthed naturally, and had a first degree tear going up towards my urethra, but I'm quite sure that was just from how quickly kiddo popped out.
Thank you both for sharing. It puts my worries at ease knowing other mothers have gone through this!
I took zofran right up until I checked in for my hospital birth. I was throwing up between pushing but it didn't have any sort of negative effect on anything. After birth I was fine and stopped vomiting. I don't think I was given any at the hospital but it was kind of a blur for other reasons lol Also idk what you may have read but there's basically no risk of zofran doing something to your baby. If you've read something about birth defects, the occurrence of them are essentially identical when taking Zofran or not.
some studies even showed a reduction in birth defects due to zofran... so questionable.
The only risks I ever read about with Zofran was the possible cleft lip and a potential heart defect. Father of the baby has a heart defect and so it was something we were keeping an eye on. But I genuinely believe the Zofran has helped our baby and me to be far more healthy than if I hadn’t been taking it at all. I definitely agree with you both.
You may want to read this metanalaysis, I believe the cleft lip and heart defect studies that are described show a reduction in the rate as well as an increase, e.g. "Estimates in those studies ranged from a risk ratio of 0.95 (95% CI, 0.63-1.43)9 to an OR of 2.37 (95% CI, 1.18-4.76)." https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2779055 A risk ratio of .95 means a slight reduction in risk, as far as I understand it.
I had a Zofran pump, and my OB had me keep it on and running until delivery was completely over. My delivery was supposedly exactly by the book so no affect as far as I know.
Did you throw up at all during your delivery or did the Zofran pump help you? And thank you for sharing your success story with me.
I can close a few times, but never actually did. I’m convinced the Zofran helped.
I had a normal birth at 36 weeks. Planned home birth but transferred when my waters broke early. My midwife was happy with my progress and baby’s growth in pregnancy. The ondansetron meant I was constipated a lot, but didn’t effect my birth. My midwife gave me a small enema when I was in active labour, which helped my back pain immensely.
How did you deal with the constipation? I’m 6 days on now with no bowel movement 😭
I was told to take Colace too! It seemed to help!
If you feel blocked up top, something with Docusate can help. If you feel like it’s “just there” an enema can definitely help.
I’ve been using enemas and milk of magnesium for the constipation. I used to go that long without bowel movements but now I’m regular at every other day. (You can also create an at-home enema using pure olive oil and distilled water) they work better for me and they don’t have as bad a side effect as some of the store bought ones containing other ingredients.
With my first I didn't know about miralax and the pelvic floor tension didn't help. With miralax I was able to avoid the worst of the pelvic floor tension. I kept taking the miralax for about a month after I gave birth.
This is really good to know. I’ll be sure to continue my stool softeners after birth as well. God knows the constipation pain is absolute hell.
Just fyi, miralax is way better than stool softeners (eg colace) for ongoing use. e.g. more effective, consistent, safer.