A woman in her 20s had no idea what she was signing up for when she visited the doctor. But things took an unexpected turn when she started experiencing labor pains. What baffled her and the medical staff was that she wasn’t even pregnant.
Holly Smallwood, originally from Louisville, Kentucky, is a certified personal trainer at Orangetheory Fitness. The Warner Robins, Georgia resident, who had been in a relationship with Jerrod Powers since 2020, had quite an unlikely experience which she shared in late 2022.
It all began when Smallwood decided to discontinue hormonal birth control and opt for copper T, a non-hormonal IUD method. To do so, she drove eight hours to see her doctor in Georgia, where she had recently moved at the time.
Getting the Procedure
Before starting the procedure, Smallwood’s doctor asked her if she had ever used an IUD because it could be painful. Confident that she had a high pain threshold, she assured the doctor she would be fine.
The mind-boggling incident had become permanently imprinted on her mind, to the point that she detailed it online.
Soon afterward, Smallwood’s doctor performed the procedure, and initially, she said she didn’t feel so bad. She recalled the doctor telling her to stay put for at least ten minutes because she might experience cramping.
Writhing in Pain
Almost five minutes later, a nurse came to see if Smallwood was doing okay. At that moment, the fitness trainer told the nurse she was writhing in extreme pain and feeling “weird.” However, she was assured that the pain was normal and it would subside in some time.
Much to Smallwood’s astonishment, everything became blurry when the nurse returned a few minutes later. Feeling extremely nauseous, the young woman asked the nurse for a bag because she felt like throwing up.
While vomiting, Smallwood’s vision became foggy, and she lost consciousness. After that, she said her “extremities went numb,” and she started sweating uncontrollably, unable to feel her arms and legs.
Experiencing Odd Contractions
Upon seeing the Georgia woman’s condition, the nurse became slightly concerned but told her not to worry because everyone handled pain differently. But then things took a turn for the worst, and Smallwood recounted feeling childbirth-like contractions, something she had only heard in films.
Amid the shooting pains, there were brief instances of blissfulness and endorphin release where Smallwood asked the nurse about the worst pain she had ever felt.
Upon seeing her hands and fists all locked up, the nurse asked Smallwood if she had a history of seizures in her family. When she replied in the negative, the nurse called the doctor, by which time Smallwood had started to tremble profusely.
An Emergency Extraction
With just one glimpse at Smallwood’s condition, the doctor immediately decided to do an emergency extraction of the contraceptive device, after which Smallwood was able to breathe and bounce back from her disorientation.
The doctor explained later that the copper T had been placed on a nerve, which sent Smallwood into labor because her body wanted to expel it. Battling for her life, Smallwood was told her pains and dilation would have been good enough for an epidural if she was actually expecting.
The Online Community’s Reaction
The mind-boggling incident had become permanently imprinted on Smallwood’s mind, to the point that she detailed it online. In a TikTok video posted in December 2022, the then-26-year-old’s insanely authentic account left netizens gobsmacked. The caption read, “single-handedly the most physically traumatic 45 minutes from start to finish [expletive] [sic],”
Many TikTokers turned to the comments section to express their feelings of shock, surprise, and horror, while others related similar experiences.
