Raise your hand if you screamed bloody murder while giving birth.

[Blossom'sGirl]

Doors were being shut everywhere. I remember it hurt so much that I was screaming that I wanted to die. For my 1st delivery, I was so drugged I barely remembered it so #2 was an eye opener. After that I followed the Bradley method and births #3 and 4 were a lot more relaxed and under control.

[Jean too]

No screaming from me. But when I was in labor with my first I was their only patient at first. They kept saying that they were expecting a woman that had called earlier and said she was in labor and was going to wait awhile at home before coming in. When this woman showed up she was screaming and demanding an epideral. They told her it was too late, should have come in sooner etc... She SCREAMED a lot and scared the wits out of this first timer. Luckily for both of us her baby was delivered pretty quickly after she arrived.

[Remudamom]

I hollered, but no screaming. And according to dh the hollering wasn't very ladylike.

[BakersDozen]

I don't appreciate screaming birth scenes myself, or the ones with the big gush of the waters breaking followed by hysteria and the impression that birth will then occur 5 seconds later

For some of us that is how our births go - gush, push, baby out (usually on the table with no OB or nurse in sight).

 

I do my hair and makeup on the way to the hospital - it gives me a focus and helps me gain some sense of control.

 

Also, the notion that it only hurts if you are a wimp, or aren't "doing it right", or aren't in touch with your body is just pure blarney. It hurts for lots of people because it hurts. And general rule of thumb is the faster the delivery, the worse the pain. There's no time to transition to graduating higher levels of pain and adjust as you go.

 

AMEN!!! Births that redefine "precipitous" are insanely out of control and HURT! As my midwife said, labors that happen in a matter of minutes are like a hurricane and tornado in one, with no time to prepare for the pain. I read a book with my last baby that said labor is only discomfort, it doesn't really hurt, and I threw the book across the room. Idiot author. I'm glad to see so many of us scream and that it is a release of tension.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Okay, now I'm curious. Is there proof that screaming takes away energy from pushing?

 

Regarding baby birthing shows, what makes me laugh are women in labor who do their hair and makeup before the birth. LOL! I looked downright frightful.

:D

 

Well, physiologicially, there is some truth to that. When screaming, the energy goes out, not down. While the uterus does much pushing on its own, we help with bearing down. When screaming, it is difficult to bear down (think the action to make a bowel movement. ) The most effective downword pressure comes from holding one's breath, putting the chin on the chest to close the glottis, and pushing down (until one feels the need to breathe - NOT the 10 seconds.) Some women find this too powerful and use grunting or groaning. There is still downward pressure, but not as strong.

 

However, this is not about judging women who scream or make noise. I am only speaking about the physiology, not character. Like I said before, women need to feel safe to be unihibited, to making noise and not need to be "fixed." Maintaining control is not the goal, birthing the baby is. I think it is so sad that hospital personnel judge women who make noise in labor rather than find ways to support them. (I actually had a doctor cut an episiotomy in order to shut me up! I guess my very loud, anguished prayer to "get this baby out of me" during crowning was inappropriate. :glare:)

[Jill- OK]

With my second child - he got stuck at the shoulders. The pain of pushing his shoulders out was UNBELIEVABLE! I screamed bloody murder! just during THAT push! It was a natural birth, no epidural, no drugs, no episiotomy. He was 10lb 10oz, 24 inch head, 24 inches long. Too big for newborn diapers or clothes.

 

My fifth was 10+ lbs, and 24 inches long. I've never met anyone else with a 24 inch long newborn! :D

 

Fourth was a dream birth. When the midwife told me I could push, I actually said, "Are you sure?!" (She was born a little early, and was my second-smallest baby, at 8lbs.)

 

Fifth was not that way. :-S

[Jill- OK]

I don't know if I've ever done anything that qualified as a scream, but I wouldn't begrudge any laboring woman any sort of primal noisemaking.

 

Do what works! :D

[Nicole M]

Well, physiologicially, there is some truth to that. When screaming, the energy goes out, not down. While the uterus does much pushing on its own, we help with bearing down. When screaming, it is difficult to bear down (think the action to make a bowel movement. ) The most effective downword pressure comes from holding one's breath, putting the chin on the chest to close the glottis, and pushing down (until one feels the need to breathe - NOT the 10 seconds.) Some women find this too powerful and use grunting or groaning. There is still downward pressure, but not as strong.

 

Has the average size of babies born in the US gone up? (I don't think the wording there is correct, but you know what I mean, I hope.) I had always thought that 10 pounders were very rare, but it seems many women here have given birth to huge babies, and that 8 pounds is now considered "small." I'll tell ya what, 8 pounds is not small (especially compared to a six pounder!).

[Jill- OK]

Well, it's funny now...

 

One of my good friends said that when she had one of her kids, they kept telling her that she'd have her epidural shortly.

 

Long story short...they missed some kind of window (I've never had one, I may be messing up my terms or something, here) of time to do it in, and pretty soon, it became clear to her that they were just trying to soothe her along, and weren't giving her The Stuff.

 

So...she lost her mind.

 

She started screaming and screaming. Just...bloody murder. She said that in her mind, she had thought, "If I'm going to suffer, then...every one of you is going to suffer with me". (LOL)

 

The friend that was with her said, "It was like you were possessed!!"

 

Now, something similar happened to me, the one time I wanted an epidural. (With the 10+ lb, 24 inch long baby I mentioned above). After a while, I knew they weren't going to give it to me, and they finally said, "Let's ask the doctor", and when he came in, I was ready to go.

 

The nurse told me later that since the baby was so big (I had to push him out in one fell swoop, so that his shoulders wouldn't hang up) and I'd need so much control to push him out, that they knew it would be best if I didn't have one.

 

"And," she said, "I could tell that you could handle it". (LOL)

 

So, the moral is...sometimes being calm can backfire!! (Just kidding; I'm glad they handled it the way they did.)

[LadyAberlin]

Well my first birth was 16 hrs and I joked through it. the only thing that hurt were my feet. I kept asking for someone to rub my feet LOL The midwife said I was wired wrong. When the midwife told me that I would feel a sharp shooting pain (I think it was as the baby crowned) I laughed and said I all of a sudden had this picture in my mind from Berenstain Bears Christmas special where is says that papa bear always knew when it was going to snow when he felt a sharp shooting pain in his left big toe LOL That baby was 5lbs 10oz. My second was 9lbs 6 oz and the birth was 1.5 hrs start to finish. I had him within 30 minutes of getting to the hospital and the dr wasn't in the room. I didn't scream. I did say Oh God once but it wasn't loud. I was also holding on to this peach that I was eating and my dh said why don't you put the peach down. I wasn't eating it at that point. I said Do not touch the peach! The thought of having to use my energy to loosen my grip on the peach was too much. I was focused on pushing. The nurse laughed and said I was starting a new birthing technique:tongue_smilie: Oh I do tear really badly tough. I have a very difficult recovery after my births.

[BabyBre]

On my third attempt, I finally delivered naturally and, yep, I screamed bloody murder! I tried to resist at first, but I discovered it really helped focus my energy on something other than the pain, and that made the labor more productive (8 minutes!). Besides, when you're such a situation why really worry about what you sound like, because you surely don't look very good!

 

I highly recommend screaming during childbirth.

[Brin]

I roared like a steam engine when I was in labor with my second. We had him at home, and my midwife joked that the neighbors must have really wondered about my husband after seeing all of these women come into our house (my midwife and my doula), and then hear so much screaming coming out the windows. I don't remember screaming so much as really LOUD hollering for much of the 6 hours I was in labor.

[Lovedtodeath]

The nurse told me later that since the baby was so big (I had to push him out in one fell swoop, so that his shoulders wouldn't hang up) and I'd need so much control to push him out, that they knew it would be best if I didn't have one.

Interesting. For my 9 and half pounder I had an epidural and still felt every contraction. For my 9 lb 11 ouncer I had a C-section.

[KidsHappen]

Well, physiologicially, there is some truth to that. When screaming, the energy goes out, not down. While the uterus does much pushing on its own, we help with bearing down. When screaming, it is difficult to bear down (think the action to make a bowel movement. ) The most effective downword pressure comes from holding one's breath, putting the chin on the chest to close the glottis, and pushing down (until one feels the need to breathe - NOT the 10 seconds.) Some women find this too powerful and use grunting or groaning. There is still downward pressure, but not as strong.

 

 

I did most of my screaming during transition when you definitely shouldn't be pushing yet. It's a great tension reliever then. Once I got to the pushing, yeah I was too busy pushing to scream. There was always explatives when I reached the point where they told me to stop pushing. Sorry, not happening. :glare:

[Lovedtodeath]

I always said that I would not push, even if they told me to, because your body does it for you. How else could women have babies while knocked out? Well, after such a long labor with a big baby, not only did I push, I listened to everything the doctor and nurses said. lol

[KidsHappen]

I don't think I was much of a screamer, but I sure wasn't pleasant to be around! My husband still likes to brag about the times I bit his arm and punched him in the stomach. That was child #1. Child #2, I didn't hit him at all, but he wasn't allowed to speak to me for the entire event. (I had a very fast delivery so it was only about 30 min. that he couldn't speak to me.)

 

I almost bit my hubby but he moved to quick. :tongue_smilie:

[melissel]

This thread is totally cracking me up :lol: I remember hearing a woman screaming during my first birth and wondering why she didn't have an epidural. During my second (the natural one), I wasn't screaming like in a horror movie, but I was quite a bit of...um...loud vocalizing! Much of it was about why I ever decided to have this natural birth, what kind of person would volunteer for this, who the heck would volunteer do it more than once, why won't this baby come down, how I changed my mind and wanted my epidural now now now, etc. I specifically remember half-yelling, half-crying, over and over, "IchangedmymindIchangedmymindIchangedmymindIchangedmymind." My poor DH was so wide-eyed and freaked out that he was trying to tell me the things I'd told him to say to support me, except that it came out like, "Good job, babe? You can do it? You're doing great? Remember you said to tell you that when you were saying you couldn't do it, that meant you were at the end?" I remember wanting to scream at him to shut up, that I was NOT doing great, I was breaking in half! And this was all for a 7 lb 11 oz baby :001_rolleyes:

 

Afterward, I felt so bad that I was probably scaring whoever was in the room next to me right into an epidural!

 

Yeah, I'd do it all over again though. Aren't we women crazy??? :D

[melissel]

I was also holding on to this peach that I was eating and my dh said why don't you put the peach down. I wasn't eating it at that point. I said Do not touch the peach!

 

:smilielol5::smilielol5::smilielol5:

[hsmom]

I scream, yell, and well am a horrible person in labor! I usually put others around me in tears, because I am so mean. I also cannot make up my mind about anything! Like telling someone to rub my back, then yell at them because it is wrong, or something. I guess it is my jekel and hyde moments!

[newbie]

The first one, because I had an epidural at 3 cm. but it took twelve hrs.

 

Second, I screamed bloody murder, because it was au naturelle and done in two hrs.

[Nicole M]

I am so sorry. I just noticed a 1-star rating. This thread must be painful for some, who apparently feel judged. I truly did not mean to start something that would go south or in any way make a woman feel judged, or less-than or experience any kind of pain. Really, I'm sorry.

[melissel]

Oh! I forgot to address Nicole's original post. Those birth scenes in movies drive me nuts also. I know some women do scream like that in labor, but EVERY birth scene in a movie or on TV is like that. It's as if they think people won't know it's a birth scene unless there's screaming. I always complain to my DH about it too. Considering the number of women in this country who opt for epidurals, it's so unrealistic. I remember seeing the birth scene in the Star Wars movie and saying to him that you'd think that far in the future, with all that advanced technology, they'd have found some better way to ease the pain of labor and delivery!

[Nicole M]

I remember seeing the birth scene in the Star Wars movie and saying to him that you'd think that far in the future, with all that advanced technology, they'd have found some better way to ease the pain of labor and delivery!

 

That was my thinking, too. I also thought it would have been more realistic for her to start screaming after the birth, when she realizes her husband has just been blown up. If I could re-write that scene, the creepy-eyed alien doctor would be holding the baby and the other doctor would be desperately trying to sedate her while she was going ballistic.

 

The other thing that I think is entirely too convenient in film births is that there is never any placenta to deal with. Baby out, et voila!

[Jayne J]

Just want to raise my hand and say, "yep, I'm a screamer." I screamed like mad during crowning and delivery of the head, all 3 times. (Three separate pregnancies, not triplets!!)

 

And I'm not the least little bit sorry either.

[Cricket]

I was also holding on to this peach that I was eating and my dh said why don't you put the peach down. I wasn't eating it at that point. I said Do not touch the peach! The thought of having to use my energy to loosen my grip on the peach was too much.

 

During my third birth, my dh was standing in front of me and I had wrapped my arm around his leg. He was on the phone with my midwife and it was obvious she wasn't going to make it in time. He calmly told me I had to let go so he could walk around behind me. I said "NO!" Then he asked if I would rather he stayed up by my head or walk around and catch the baby. It took a lot of energy to let go! I yelled, "FINE! JUST GO!!"

[unsinkable]

I had the same thought. I have heard many women state that they didn't scream because they were told not to. Yeah, well I was told not to breastfeed, skip immunizations, and homeschool as well. I never was any good at being told what to do. :tongue_smilie:

 

Best post in the whole thread!!!

[Lovedtodeath]

Yeah, I'd do it all over again though. Aren't we women crazy??? :D

LOL you broke your board break too. Gotcha!:D

[melissel]

LOL you broke your board break too. Gotcha!:D

 

ROFL!!!! Ah, that thing failed a few weeks ago. I keep it in my sig line to remind myself that I should be doing my work and not hanging out here. (It's not working!)

 

:D

[melissel]

Oh gosh, I totally think women should scream if they need to! I do think it's less productive, but I don't think we should feel inhibited from anything when birthing. I do also think that birth is portrayed as this horrific, traumatic thing in the media, though, and like a PP said, I don't think that does any pregnant woman a service. From childhood, I was completely terrified of giving birth. It certainly wasn't a walk in the park, but it wasn't what I feared it would be either.

[Quiver0f10]

I've never met anyone else with a 24 inch long newborn! :D

 

 

 

My 4th was 10.15 oz and 24 inches, my 10th was 12# and 24 inches LOL. The rest of my babies, except # 2, were between 21-22 inches. :D

[Lovedtodeath]

I remember seeing the birth scene in the Star Wars movie and saying to him that you'd think that far in the future, with all that advanced technology, they'd have found some better way to ease the pain of labor and delivery!

AHEM.... For your information, Star Wars occurred A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away, not in the future. :lol:

 

I tried that with my sig too, and it worked some, but I felt like I had to explain in every post... yeah, I know, I said I was on a board break... but... ;)

[melissel]

AHEM.... For your information, Star Wars occurred A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away, not in the future. :lol:

 

I tried that with my sig too, and it worked some, but I felt like I had to explain in every post... yeah, I know, I said I was on a board break... but... ;)

 

:lol::lol::lol: Good grief, you're right!!! How could I have forgotten that? I guess that explains the lack of analgesia.

 

And yeah, I know. I keep hoping I'll be able to get myself back on the break, but...I should really just face facts :lol:

[DarlaS]

:lol::lol::lol: Good grief, you're right!!! How could I have forgotten that? I guess that explains the lack of analgesia.

 

And yeah, I know. I keep hoping I'll be able to get myself back on the break, but...I should really just face facts :lol:

 

You may be confusing it with Star Trek which takes place in the future. It seems that they could have just beamed the kid out with the transporter. Now wouldn't that be nice? :D

[melissel]

You may be confusing it with Star Trek which takes place in the future. It seems that they could have just beamed the kid out with the transporter. Now wouldn't that be nice? :D

 

:lol: Yes, but then we wouldn't have nearly as many funny stories to tell!

[Mommy22alyns]

I didn't make a peep while giving birth to Becca. I had one gooooood epidural and I didn't have to push very long at all. She just arrived, almost effortlessly.

 

I had a C-section with Sylvia.

[Desert Rat]

No-I never screamed. My mom was an L&D nurse for years and she encouraged her moms not to scream. It's a waste of breath and energy. FWIW, I think most women who do scream are just plain scared. I don't think it has much to do with the actual pain just their reaction to what's happening.

I had very easy deliveries with no meds and only a couple pushes so I don't think I'm a good judge whether screaming in labor is the norm, though. :o

[Tammyla]

Interesting, my Bradley coached encouraged us to scream, yell, grunt or hollar while you push. My ds was out in a matter of minutes.:D

 

No-I never screamed. My mom was an L&D nurse for years and she encouraged her moms not to scream. It's a waste of breath and energy. FWIW, I think most women who do scream are just plain scared. I don't think it has much to do with the actual pain just their reaction to what's happening.

I had very easy deliveries with no meds and only a couple pushes so I don't think I'm a good judge whether screaming in labor is the norm, though. :o

[Desert Rat]

Hmm...Maybe it was a different method. My mom taught Harris method birthing classes, although I never actually took one. :o

I could see both ways working.

[MomLovesClassics]

No I didn't scream. I sure did feel like it when I had my son. I had a c-section. The pain afterwords is aweful. He was premature and in the nicu, and I was anemic. My nurse insisted that I wald to the nicu the next day! I refused and took a wheel chair, we are talking about several long hallways, not one hall. The hallway was very long. she must have been taking my pain medicine herself, because she sure would not give it to me when I requested it. I was suppossed to get it ever 4 hours, but she made me wait 6 or more. I should have reported her, but my husband does not allow me to complain about anything at the hospital, because he sometimes has to work there. Before I had my daughter, I made sure to have a talk with the dr. and explaned that I did not want another experience like that, and if I was in pain I expected to get pain medicine, not do without. I had no issues with her.

[sixpence1978]

I think it varies so much from woman to woman, that what works for one, doesn't work for the other. And people all feel pain differently.

 

I'm am a very quiet person by nature, but I definitely made noise during delivery. Mainly I just moaned during contractions, but pushing has to be the worst feeling ever for me. I don't think I screamed like in a horror movie, but I definitely yelled, cried, and had some primal yells as well. Both of my kids were at the max size (close to 8 pounds) for my pelvis and I tore pretty badly with them. Maybe being short and small-framed made the difference :confused1:

 

My DH still laughs at me because I got so made at all the nurses trying to encourage me to push that I told them to "shut up". I couldn't concentrate with all that noise :blush:

[dirty ethel rackham]

Interesting, my Bradley coached encouraged us to scream, yell, grunt or hollar while you push. My ds was out in a matter of minutes.:D

 

Interesting. I taught the Bradley Method for 12 years and that is not part of the curriculum. We teach that the most effective pushing method is chin to chest and holding breath while pushing - breathing when need be. We also teach that it is most effective and less tiring to relax everything not involved in pushing. Screaming is not encouraged because it is not effective (force going up and out rather than down and out.) We do encourage vocalization, but screaming can be counterproductive. Some babies can take several hours to come down and that would be a lot of energy wasted. Mom might be too tired to finish the job and instruments can cause major pelvic floor damage.

 

That said, we also encourage women to tune inward and go with what their bodies are telling them to do. Maybe that is where your instructor was coming from.

[SquirrellyMama]

I saw the episode of "Friends" right after yelling/screaming out #2 and was really, really angry at how labor/delivery was portrayed to millions of naive girls. Yeah, right. :glare: If ever there is a time/place that being vocal even to the point of screaming is absolutely OK then childbirth is that time/place.

 

I have to agree with this Friends episode having the worst birth scene I've ever seen.

 

I don't scream but I do yell a bit, more of a loud grunt during the last 10-20 minutes. The rest of the labor is pretty quiet but the pushing really gets me.

[Murphy101]

Well, physiologicially, there is some truth to that. When screaming, the energy goes out, not down. While the uterus does much pushing on its own, we help with bearing down. When screaming, it is difficult to bear down (think the action to make a bowel movement. ) The most effective downword pressure comes from holding one's breath, putting the chin on the chest to close the glottis, and pushing down (until one feels the need to breathe - NOT the 10 seconds.) Some women find this too powerful and use grunting or groaning. There is still downward pressure, but not as strong.

 

However, this is not about judging women who scream or make noise. I am only speaking about the physiology, not character. Like I said before, women need to feel safe to be unihibited, to making noise and not need to be "fixed." Maintaining control is not the goal, birthing the baby is. I think it is so sad that hospital personnel judge women who make noise in labor rather than find ways to support them. (I actually had a doctor cut an episiotomy in order to shut me up! I guess my very loud, anguished prayer to "get this baby out of me" during crowning was inappropriate. :glare:)

 

got it. know just what you mean:) I think most don't get that you really can't scream while pushing. Most of the screaming is in between pushes, when the pain is still heck, but you aren't pushing. There always came a point in my contractions where the pain cresendoed (sp!) to the point that I couldn't breathe to say anything, much less scream. so all that tension and such built up during pushing and then I screamed my ever lovin' head off when it was over until the next cresendo. the screaming was actually the relaxation between contractions/pushing.

 

No-I never screamed. My mom was an L&D nurse for years and she encouraged her moms not to scream. It's a waste of breath and energy. FWIW, I think most women who do scream are just plain scared. I don't think it has much to do with the actual pain just their reaction to what's happening.

I had very easy deliveries with no meds and only a couple pushes so I don't think I'm a good judge whether screaming in labor is the norm, though. :o

 

well yeah, being in the worst pain ever is scary;)

 

so I agree to a point, but what I don't agree with is treating patients like hysterical idiots (not that you suggested that at all) because they are crying/screaming loud in whatever manner. I very much have my all my mental faculties in order, even when screaming my head off.

 

treating them like irrational drma queens just makes them more scared and or really, really, ticks them off. which doesn't help labor or anything else.

[Wendi]

I don't know if I've ever done anything that qualified as a scream, but I wouldn't begrudge any laboring woman any sort of primal noisemaking.

 

Do what works! :D

 

:iagree:

[Wendi]

dd4 was 9 lbs 0.4 oz. (induction and then epidural) :( I loathe pitocin!

 

 

I have a love/hate relationship with Pitocin. It was given to me because my water broke before I started feeling contractions, so after twelve hours or so and not much progress (it HURT a lot, but I was only around 4 cm), they gave me Pitocin. Woohoo! That was intense! No more breaks between contractions, just one solid squeezing pain! As a result, I went from 6cm to holding him in my arms within 20 minutes! The nurse didn't believe me when I said I was ready to push; she said, we just checked you, and you're not quite there. Then the doctor walked in, checked, and 15 min. later, ds was born!

 

So the Pitocin certainly sped things up, but wow, transition was KILLER! I grabbed dh's hand and whimpered, "Help me!" Too late to rethink saying no to meds at that point.

 

Wendi

[Mommy22alyns]

No I didn't scream. I sure did feel like it when I had my son. I had a c-section. The pain afterwords is aweful.

 

 

Finally, I meet another mom who had a painful C-section recovery! That was the worst pain ever, and every other mom I talked to beforehand made it seem like a breeze and said they barely took anything stronger than ibuprofen. :glare: One day after I was sent home, I woke up and got out of bed. I was in SO much pain, I literally could not move my feet. I had to wake up DH and ask him to bring me my pain meds.

[Mere2]

No primal screams here......however lots of tears (mine), whimpering and saying stop over and over again. I just withdrew into myself, trying to protect myself. No thoughts to the baby at all. I was trying to grap my OB hands and getting her to stop....so I was pinned down by a nurse (nicely!!).

 

I had a csection and the epidural/spinal block completely failed. Last recorded case (until mine) was 1997 to some poor woman in Japan.

 

So thats it for me - 2 children only!!

[Evergreen State Sue]

Not raising my hand - I wasn't a screamer. Once it was determined I really was in labor, my babies came in 4-5 hours, without pain meds. They were both under 7 lbs., so I didn't have huge babies to push out though.

 

Is it possible the way you approach labor has to do with your personality. I wonder if women who are more on the quiet side deal with the pain in a quieter manner and maybe those who are more vocal anyway let it all out during labor.

 

Whatever that woman has to do to get that baby out of there is "normal." I do hate to have my dd watch scenes where the woman is really screaming her head off because I don't want to scare her.

[swellmomma]

I screamed my fool head off, from the time I entered transition until each one was born. 3 times I did that, the last one was in an ambulance so it was a small space to be screaming. I do not handle pain well at all and can't help but scream. Of course as soon as they are out I tend to be very apologetic for damaging any ear drums with my screaming.

 

With DD9 the epi never worked right and she was a vacuum extraction, that was intense pain, and I could not help but scream. DS5 his labour was fast, they put in the epi and I was ready to push before it started, He has a big head and I was tense because he was prem and I was worried. DD20months, was born prem, in an ambulance and I was having terrible back labour. I went from 6 cm to holding her in my arms in 20 minutes and for those full 20 minutes I screamed like a mad woman. Thankfully up until transition/pushing I do not scream, I just breath through it.

[Janice in NJ]

No pain meds either - there was no time.

 

First ds - entire labor lasted 4 1/2 hours: 10 1/2 pound boy.

DD - another quickie labor: 7 1/4 pounds (She looked so tiny to me! :001_smile:)

Youngest ds - quickie delivery- born three weeks early. Doctor decide to send me to the hospital to be induced because he was afraid that I wouldn't make it to the hospital if we waited for natural birth. I arrived; they hooked me up to a monitor before inducing me. The nurse seemed puzzled; she told me that I didn't need any drugs becuase I was already in labor. I stared at the screen in disbelief as the little green line evidenced contractions. The little man showed up two hours latter - with NO drugs; they never did induce anything. 9 pounds 9 oz. WEIRD experience.

 

We quit. Dh didn't want any kids to fall out while I wasn't paying attention. So no, no screaming. Lots of urgent, "I've GOT to get this kid out" during the last couple of seconds. LOTS of that! Dh is a big guy and he was a big newborn, but I'm not that big! I still can't believe those ginormous boys came out of me!

 

Isn't life grand?

 

Peace,

Janice

 

Enjoy your little people

Enjoy your journey