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

[PeterPan]

Totally agree that births on tv are not realistic, but yes I screamed. He was 11 pounds--I had a right to scream.

[katilac]

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

 

I think there's a special circle of punishment in hell reserved for those who think that people screaming in pain are not, contrary to their own belief, actually in pain.

 

Most of the spots will be taken up by dentists, but there will be a few slots reserved for skeptical ob/gyns and moms who are quiet during childbirth! :D

[elw_miller]

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!

 

You lucky duck! I was given Pitocin around 8 AM and got an epidural at like 2 PM. My dd wasn't born until almost 8:45 PM after 3 hours of pushing. Boy was I pooped after her birth!

[Laurie4b]

I am sick to death of screaming birth scenes. Saw Star Trek today. Screaming birth scene, check. Prince Caspian. Check.

 

I'm not a huge movie person, but I cannot think of one realistic birth scene. And I can tell you that I have seen many that I think would be damaging to young female viewers. I know it's more dramatic, but please. I mean, what percentage of real, actual women do that? Does it bother you? Am I the only one who finds this irritating?

 

Yes, I hollered during my first birth and I don't think it's a big deal that I did. It helped. I eventually got an epidural, though I was trying to avoid one. The attending made some decisions (like making me get out of a warm tub, making me wear a monitor that didn't allow me to move, etc) that took away some of the things that were helping me. The labor nurse just told me to be quiet--no help with refocusing my breathing or whatever else might have helped. Yelling helped me cope. So what?

 

For the next three I had no medication. I was relatively quiet--didn't holler the same way as with the first, but apparently with one that was coming fast, I made some noise that made the doctor and nurse rush in. They later said when they hear that particular sound, they knew "they were playing catch up" --or maybe just "catch." It pretty much sounded like a cow. :)

 

Anyway, in a primal event such as giving birth, I think you do what you do. And it's fine.

[Remudamom]

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

 

:lol: Oh, I'm beating the floor laughing at this. My dh is quick too, he's good at dodging thrown objects.

[Lovedtodeath]

Yes, I hollered during my first birth and I don't think it's a big deal that I did. It helped. I eventually got an epidural, though I was trying to avoid one. The attending made some decisions (like making me get out of a warm tub, making me wear a monitor that didn't allow me to move, etc) that took away some of the things that were helping me. The labor nurse just told me to be quiet--no help with refocusing my breathing or whatever else might have helped. Yelling helped me cope. So what?

 

For the next three I had no medication. I was relatively quiet--didn't holler the same way as with the first, but apparently with one that was coming fast, I made some noise that made the doctor and nurse rush in. They later said when they hear that particular sound, they knew "they were playing catch up" --or maybe just "catch." It pretty much sounded like a cow. :)

 

Anyway, in a primal event such as giving birth, I think you do what you do. And it's fine.

:iagree:I had much the same experience with needing the epi after being told I had to stay on the bed and wear a monitor too.

[keptwoman]

I'm a screamer too. I screamed during J and M's births. Apparantly they could hear me down the other end of the birthing suite :rofl: Whatever it takes I say! Loud and Proud.

 

I didn't scream with C because the epi was still in full force, I was able to push but couldn't feel a thing. Didn't even know he was crowning until the midwife checked :rofl:

[gardenschooler]

 

ETA: My babies came progressively faster. My third was the fastest. I went from 4cm to 10cm in five minutes. I challenge anyone to do that without screaming. I would have loved an epidural, but it was too fast (and furious). I then was told NOT to push for about 30 minutes, so that the tissues could relax a bit, and not tear (as they had in my previous deliveries). You try to hold a baby in, when it really wants to rip it's way out. And, do it without screaming.

 

I was about to answer this thread and say that I was not a screamer, but then your post reminded me of dd#2's birth - which was exactly like your 3rd, described above. In my case, I was told not to push in order to wait for the doctor to arrive (it was around 3 am). Yeah, I'm pretty sure that now that you mention it, there was some screaming.

 

The part I will never let my dh live down is how he stopped for a red light, in the middle of the night, on a deserted street - while I'm in the backseat in transition. :glare:

[gardenschooler]

I groaned, grunted and made very loud gutteral noises to the point of losing my voice, but I didn't scream.

 

 

 

This is what I meant. Low noises, not high-pitched shrieking. That wouldn't help, anyway, I don't think.

[melissel]

I was relatively quiet--didn't holler the same way as with the first, but apparently with one that was coming fast, I made some noise that made the doctor and nurse rush in. They later said when they hear that particular sound, they knew "they were playing catch up" --or maybe just "catch." It pretty much sounded like a cow. :)

 

:lol:

 

This is the noise I've always been told you're "supposed" to make, to redirect the high-pitched loss of energy and breath to a low, deep moan that helps you push. Supposedly. :lol:

[Mekanamom]

I think there's a special circle of punishment in hell reserved for those who think that people screaming in pain are not, contrary to their own belief, actually in pain.

 

Most of the spots will be taken up by dentists, but there will be a few slots reserved for skeptical ob/gyns and moms who are quiet during childbirth! :D

 

Oh yeah- my childhood dentist who had something against the idea of novacaine is definitely going there. :D

 

Dang, I was quiet during childbirth, but I really don't think I should end up next to my dentist!! LOL! I've got nothing against screaming if it seems to be the right thing to do. I'm one of those who couldn't let go of my DH's hands. He had the opportunity to catch our last baby, but I could NOT let go of his hands to let him do it!! I always felt guilty about that...

 

To the OP: the funniest birth scene I've seen on TV was during an Xfiles episode. There was the typical Hollywood birth screaming... but in this case is was definitely in order. I think I would scream too if I was giving birth with my pants still on! (Did they think the audience just wouldn't notice? LOL!)

[Jayne J]

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.

 

Ummm. See, I'm trying hard not to be snarky, but I've had three babies, and I screamed every time, not because I was scared, but because I was in huge amounts of pain. If you sat a person on a red hot cookstove, they would likely scream in pain. I'm guessing that crowning feels pretty similar (at least it did for me).

Also, I am generally a quiet person, my babies were average (7.2-7.12), my hips are not narrow, and there were no other special circumstances. It just really, really hurt.

 

Ok. Snark over. Hope I haven't brought down the tone.:D

[MomofSeven]

Ummm. See, I'm trying hard not to be snarky, but I've had three babies, and I screamed every time, not because I was scared, but because I was in huge amounts of pain. If you sat a person on a red hot cookstove, they would likely scream in pain. I'm guessing that crowning feels pretty similar (at least it did for me).

Also, I am generally a quiet person, my babies were average (7.2-7.12), my hips are not narrow, and there were no other special circumstances. It just really, really hurt.

 

Ok. Snark over. Hope I haven't brought down the tone.:D

 

It was only after the childbirth that I was told about the "ring of fire". Up till then I described it as someone taking a machete to me from the inside out.

[*Inna*]

I screamed the last 5 minutes of 2.5 hours pushing and a failed epidural with my first. It really helped, actually.

 

With my second it was like: "OK, honey, it's time to push. - Oh, all righty then. Oh, look! It's a baby!":tongue_smilie:

It was wonderful and I kept saying how much I loved my anesthesiologist. :lol:

[my3starsofthesea]

LOL...yes, it is so unreal on tv and movies. And labor and birth happen so fast too! I did not scream, at all. I was too busy trying to breathe and push, lol.

[KidsHappen]

 

 

This is my problem with tv/movie births. If this was your only exposure to child birth I am pretty sure you would be freaked out heading into your second or third day of labor.

[Colleen in NS]

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.

 

I can totally relate. Totally.

 

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

 

:svengo: Oh. My. Goodness.

[JennifersLost]

There are two reasons I didn't scream:

 

1. I'm too polite. Even under crazy, extreme, life-threatening, fully-outta-control situations.

 

2. It hurt so darned much that screaming or crying just made it hurt even worse.

 

The way people feel pain is on a spectrum, just like every other form of human behavior/experience. Some people hardly feel pain. Some people have the volume turned up all the way on their pain censors.

 

Whoever said that childbirth doesn't hurt if you're "doing it right" is just....well, I'm too polite to say.

 

The only thing any of us can say with any accuracy is what OUR childbirth felt like.

[Osmosis Mom]

It was only after the childbirth that I was told about the "ring of fire". Up till then I described it as someone taking a machete to me from the inside out.

 

 

 

Love it, "ring of fire". Describes the crowning exactly. However, I did experience a pain-FREE delivery with my last. It was awesome.

 

I only screamed (bloody murder and inhumane) with my first which was also a delivery from hell. I then had two kids in Japan where *you do not scream*. Or moan. I actually happened to walk by a woman delivering (in the room open to the nursery) and she was not giving a single sound. Her husband was not there which I think is normal for them. The nurse (and doctor) actually guided me to not scream, but moan and to press down with my chin. I have not screamed since then in delivery, but moaned, yes.

 

I am not judging other people's pain-level, but I have tended to have a high threshold for pain during delivery (possibly because nothing is ever going to come close to the Delivery from Hell).

[Word Nerd]

With my first, I screamed at least once and also expressed a wish to die. With my second, I laughed because I couldn't believe it was so easy.

[Mommyfaithe]

I did with my first one...but only because she was stuck and there was a prolapsed umbilical cord. we both almost dies and then the emergency c- section...sigh...

I had 6 subsequent v-bacs and one 2cnd trimester loss with a full labor.

 

Some babies I had pitocin drips...therefore I had a shot of demerol. I couldn't bear contractions on pitocin....just too much. That was with 2 babies...I didn't scream...I just asked for the demeroal...plain and simple...LOL

 

I sang through my last labor and delivery...my daughter thought I was nuts...BUT...It got me through.

 

With one...I was in total denial...talked myself completely out of the idea that I was in labor...until I was sitting there holding my beautiful new baby boy...LOL...

 

Labor..I am glad that stage of my life is past...but I do sure miss having my new babies...sigh

 

~~Faithe

[Mommyfaithe]

<<<<This was in reply to the poster who claimed that most women scream from fear and not from pain>>>

UMMMM...NO....that is not true. I was not scared until I saw blood...my blood all over the floor in big puddles...all over the walls and a flat line on the monitor. i was 20 years old...but smart enough to know something was wrong...I had to push...problem was...baby was not engaged..but umbilical cord was...all the way down...emergency c-section....

 

That labor hurt like HELL....

 

The only other time I EVER screamed from pain was when a dentist split my tooth in 2 during a botched root canal...That tooth hurt in my toes...ugh!

 

~~Faithe

Edited June 3, 2009 by Mommyfaithe
wrong quote

[GraceinMD]

my first labor was 72 hours .... joking with ....

 

I know this is about screaming, but my labor was 70 hours - the first half was spent crying quietly at home (or at the store, where I was trying to spend a gift card I had been given - I kept doubling over, sobbing, in the infants section!); once I went to the hospital (and received Versed), my dh tells me I laughed for 4 hours straight. I don't remember much of that, except when my hand fell into the pocket of a nurse who was fiddling with something at the bedside - and that was (apparently) the funniest thing that had ever happened to me - EVER. It's probably a good idea of what would happen if I were a drinker! I think some of the abdominal pain I felt was because I was laughing so incredibly hard!

 

I've delivered a fair number of babies, and, as other posters have said, everyone's different. Some of it seems to be cultural, and some of it is that we're all just gloriously different! I did learn, for an Indian patient I had when I was a resident, to count in Hindi and to say, "Push," in Hindi (she didn't speak English). I was used to delivering some ladies who ... well, were loud enough to be in the movies ... who had very vocal coaches, so I thought that was how you were supposed to 'do it'. During the Indian patient's delivery, I was counting and encouraging her to push, and she started crying. I thought she must be in pain, but it turns out that she thought I was mad at her, because (in her mind) I was yelling at her. :(

 

At any rate, a "willing suspension of disbelief" is, as always, needed to watch movies - maybe especially birth scenes!

[Alison in KY]

I didn't start screaming until after 16 or 18 hours. I screamed bloody murder for every single contraction for the last 14 or so hours, and while pushing.

 

I had read all the natural child birth books, went to the class, and practiced breathing.

 

Then I experienced labor. No one will ever convince me that screaming wasn't right for me. Based on my two births, I feel like those birth story shows are completely fake because they make labor look so calm & serene.

 

I'm actually a very quiet and reserved person. But labor is the most horrific torture I've ever endured, and I'm not going to be quiet about it. :tongue_smilie:

 

Oh yeah!! Except for the long labor, my sentiments exactly. And honestly, if someone had told me to quiet down with my grunts, whimpers, yells, and screams I probably would have socked 'em. I did what I had to do to get those babies out...and don't even get me started on that ten count...ridiculous!

 

Alison

[Doran]

For Baby Number One, some of you would probably say I was a screamer, but I'd call it moaning, or hollering, or something other than screaming. Let's put it this way, compared to the the woman across the hall, I was NOT a screamer. It became downright humorous, because she had a room full of people who kept coming and going. Each time the door opened, we could all hear her yelling and screeching, the volume swelling and falling with the opening and closing of the door. aaahhhhahhhhahhAAAAAAAHHHHHAAAAAAAAh haahhhaaaagggggggggghhoooOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! It served as a form of labor entertainment for the rest of us. Not because we were laughing at her, but because of the way the sounds carried in that way.

 

For Baby Number Two, by the time my "hollering" had reached a specific crescendo, my mother said, "Jim, get that girl to the hospital, NOW!!" Little did we know I was in transition. The baby was born 45 minutes after our arrival. Woot!

 

So, anyway. Yeah. I made noise. But, I'm not ever quite as noisy as they are in the movies. And, you know, I'm guessing that birth scenes aren't the only scenes where the hollering is exaggerated. :lol:

[KidsHappen]

And, you know, I'm guessing that birth scenes aren't the only scenes where the hollering is exaggerated. :lol:

 

:lol: Girl, you are always good for a laugh.

[GraceinMD]

And, you know, I'm guessing that birth scenes aren't the only scenes where the hollering is exaggerated.

 

That's true. I've seen teA parties WAY louder in the movies than I thought occurred in "real" life.

[OnTheBrink]

With my first, the only time I screamed was when the b*tchy nurse got snotty with me one time too many and I kicked her out of the room. The next nurse was quite supportive and helpful. Ds's father was there and HE was almost ejected by the nurse! She felt his arguing with me about what to watch on TV was stressing me out and told him to either settle down or leave.

 

With my second, dd was transverse and it took two days to get her in the right position. They put me on pitocin and I remember my mother calling and telling me, "This just doesn't feel right to me. I think you should go home and wait another week." Dd was already one week over due and was 8lbs. I decided my mother's feelings from 2000 miles away bore no weight in the event. Anyway, I never screamed, but I did inform EX that I needed to throw up. He handed me that stupid emises basin and I just glared at him and said, "Get. Me. The. Trash. Can!" He did with out a nanosecond to spare. The only time I raised my voice was when they said I was at 3cm and they were going to call the anesthesiologist. I yelled, "Get me the epidural man! Get me the epidural man!" because I was in PAIN from the Pit and, well, wanted a freeking epidural! Turns out, that I went from 3 cm to 6cm in about 10 minutes time and I was getting no epidural. They called my doctor and she arrived 10 minutes later to literally catch DD. NO screaming, but I did holler at the final push. I think going from 3 cm to delivery in 20 minutes warranted a holler. ;)

[elegantlion]

Let me just say that this thread would make a wonderful abstinence tool. :D

 

I know we all love our children, but I'm still glad I had a full anesthetic c-section and did not experience the "ring of fire".

[Nicole M]

Well. I stand corrected, then. Quite, quite corrected.

[PeterPan]

Just to jump in a little more, I'd like to say that my screams with my 11 pounder were only at the end. I was smiling (and have pictures to prove it!) all the way up to the pushing. But once we started pushing, that was the end of everything. And it was oh so polite: "I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW THIS HURTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" over and over and over... Finally she (the midwife) looked me in the eye (having formerly been looking at my rear, I was on my hands and knees, and says "Praise Jesus it hurts!" Rearranged my thinking, lol, but I went right back to being loud. :)

 

I screamed after he came out too, just like I did with dd. Just a nice scream of amazement and relief. But I'm a very verbal person. My guess is most of the screamers on this thread are. :) And my pushing screaming wasn't maniacal, suicidal or anything, just loudly informing everyone it hurt. ;)

[Doran]

 

 

(Hey' date=' where'd the little quotey box go? Wah!)

 

 

!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well. I stand corrected, then. Quite, quite corrected.

 

 

Um. Corrected? :confused:

[Night Elf]

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.

 

Seriously?

 

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

 

Oh! That explains the remark you made above. Compared to what I went through, your labor was as pleasant as the act that got your pg in the first place.

 

I wasn't scared during any of my labor/deliveries. I planned each baby and was totally ready for their deliveries. I was elated! But I was in pain. Plain and simple. Frankly, if someone with your (or your mom's) attitude was my nurse, I'd insist on you leaving my room. Zero compassion. But then again, not all nurse's or doctor's bedside manners sync up with their patients needs.

[myfatherslily]

I definitely don't have time to read all the replies here! I only just noticed this thread this morning! But I do agree that most tv births are not very realistic:) My very favorite, though, is the birth at the end of Apocalypto. I thought it was really well done!

 

BUT everyone is different:) All of us will experience different births. All of us will react differently. And that's okay!!:) I did not personally scream. My births simply were not the yelling type. My first was the hardest. I moaned and whined, but mostly I was lost in my own little world of exhaustion. My second was a dream birth. I thought I was about 4 cm, then suddenly he was born unexpectedly in the bathroom, with just dh and I. I yelled as he came out, but that was all. It simply didn't hurt! Then my third labor was 2 hours long and hurt, but not horribly. I think the differences between #3 and #2 were that the third time, my water broke to start off labor and then we were driving 40 minutes in the car on the way to the hospital and I never got to really relax. I'm very thankful for my simple births! But I know future babies may not be so easy!

 

I think it's a shame that screaming IS discouraged in hospitals. Do what you need to!!! :D

[Frelle]

I've given birth four times, and the only bloody murder screaming I did was while pushing out my 10 pound son while I stood up in the birthing pool and my midwife dislodged his shoulders! Women react to labor in a lot of different ways, I know I have with all 4 of mine.

[Jlynn]

Haven't seen the movie, so can't compare....

 

But, I would say that with this most recent delivery, which only lasted about 45 min from start to finish...I had plenty of "primal roars" as we called them. We barely made it to the hospital in time (14 min. to spare) so I was pretty scared I would be having the baby on the floor. They got me to the del. room in time and I got myself onto the bed...the nurses said they never saw a preg. lady move so fast :) So there was plenty of yelling. Mostly I was just trying to pray...the only thing that came out though was "Dear God!" I kept apologizing between yells and telling them, "I'm usually such quiet person." They all just laughed and told me to go ahead and yell. It was painful and joyful and scary all wrapped in one...and very much like a movie for us.

 

I had an epidural with my firsborn and didn't yell at all. Still a wonderful experience, but it was pretty cool this time to feel everything and be more aware of what was going on.

[katilac]

[quote=Doran;988856

Um. Corrected? :confused:

 

Nicole is the original poster of the thread; she stands corrected of her belief that few women scream during childbirth!

[Mommyfaithe]

I did with my first one...but only because she was stuck and there was a prolapsed umbilical cord. we both almost dies and then the emergency c- section...sigh...

I had 6 subsequent v-bacs and one 2cnd trimester loss with a full labor.

 

Some babies I had pitocin drips...therefore I had a shot of demerol. I couldn't bear contractions on pitocin....just too much. That was with 2 babies...I didn't scream...I just asked for the demeroal...plain and simple...LOL

 

I sang through my last labor and delivery...my daughter thought I was nuts...BUT...It got me through.

 

With one...I was in total denial...talked myself completely out of the idea that I was in labor...until I was sitting there holding my beautiful new baby boy...LOL...

 

Labor..I am glad that stage of my life is past...but I do sure miss having my new babies...sigh

 

~~Faithe

 

Oh,...and by the way...my screams were nothing like movie screams...THEY WERE MUCH LOUDER...I think they would have scared the hell out of a film crew...

[Terabith]

With my first delivery, they induced me because my water had broken but I hadn't had any contractions. Pitocin is evil. That's all I can say. I mean, I know it has it's medical uses. But, ow. Immediate projectile vomitting. I got the epidural as soon as the guy came by. I loved him. Fourth degree tear, but I didn't really feel it. They had to turn the epidural way up for the repair though.

 

Second delivery, I didn't scream. Once again, I started throwing up during transition. Finally got the epidural, but I was at 9 cm at that point. If they'd told me that, I wouldn't have gotten it. But I thought I was still at 3cm. Didn't realize that was transition.

 

Didn't scream during either. I was very, very quiet, because I needed to concentrate. Not exactly sure what I was concentrating on; it wasn't exactly breathing. I just needed to focus my energy inward. My husband kept patting me, and I (very calmly) told him that I needed to concentrate, and would appreciate if he didn't touch me right now. I'm pretty polite in labor. With the second, Mike was down getting suitcase from the car when I felt the urge to push. I buzzed the nurse and told them that I felt like pushing, and was that okay? They all came running. I was rather embarassed. :D But it was soooo much calmer than my first delivery. With Anna, she was in distress, so the whole NICU team was there, and residents and medical students. Then the surgeon to sew me up after the tear. There was blood all over the place. One medical student almost fainted. I was sorta out of it from loss of blood and realizing that the baby's apgar was a 2, that I didn't really notice, but in retrospect it was pretty hilarious.

 

I needed to be quiet and very calm for mine. But who knows, about any future one? Every labor and every woman is different. I think there's something pretty empowering about the screams. I hope to have a homebirth, unmedicated delivery for my yet to be conceived child, although I admit to being scared since I wound up with epidurals for both. It's the throwing up more than the pain that I find the most difficult to endure. But this thread is making me want another baby, too!!!!!

[Katiebug_1976]

Nope, no yelling, no screaming, no epidural etc. Just slow deep even breathing to stay relaxed, then all my energy is focused on getting baby out.

[hmschooling]

I did with my 3rd! I was crying like a baby too. I had awful back labor and they wanted me laying flat on my back...of course that just added pressure and pain to my NATURAL unmedicated birth. The people having their baby in the next room actually asked my husband if I was okay. :lol::blushing: Had it not been for my Bradley classes, I would have been in so much more pain and would have given in to an epi. which I really didn't want.

 

I'm expecting again and am prepared for the back labor, but delivering at a much more natural-birth friendly hospital that will let me move and get comfy so I can handle it better. I'm actually looking foward to another natural birth! I loved it SO much more than my epi birth and my c-sect...even with all the screaming!

Edited June 3, 2009 by hmschooling

[I.Dup.]

I yelled with my first, and cried a lot. I let out an animalistic, primal yell as I pushed her out. I had an epidural with her.

 

I screamed a terrified, high pitched scream with my second during the last 45 minutes or so. I had been at 9cm for 10 hours, and then was given pitocin- no pain meds. The contractions were horrible and pushing was even worse. He came out with his hand up by his head and I tore upward.

 

I birthed silently with my third. My MW kept offering me pain meds and I kept taking them. I had a shot of fentanyl AND an epidural even though I arrived at the hospital at 9cm. :001_rolleyes: My labor was so fast and furious, and my placenta tore off during the labor, my MW thinks it was from the strength of the contractions.

 

I birthed silently with my fourth. I had a shot of fentanyl with him too.

 

The 2 times I had an epidural, they only worked on one side. So it definitely took the edge off, but I never got the relief I hear others talk about.

[nlmullen]

Yes, lots of screaming here...until the epidoral that is :)

[leaird]

No, I did not scream -- not even once! In fact, the nurses commented on how quiet I was. However, the lady in the next room sounded like she was auditioning for a horror film. Good thing I had my daughter a few hours before she arrived or else I might have been really freaked out.

[anotherclassicmom]

Yes I screamed, but not while pushing. I screamed trying not to push. I was a 4 when my body started rolling up of it's own accord. It was hard not to push. I had no pain meds, due to being a VBAC. I wanted it that way, don't get me wrong. I did it for the safety of my baby. It was tough. Contractions were high, with just seconds between them. I WAS hyperventilating. So, even thought I don't know what scene you were talking about, I might have been there. I did apologize to everyone in the room after the birth. I was so embarassed because I am not a screamer, but it was all I could do to fight pushing. When I did finally dialate 2 hours later, I gave one push, and she was out.

[jujsky]

According to my husband (who was smart enough NOT to tell me this at the time) I made a lot of "funny" grunting noises, but no, I did not scream. It didn't hurt that much (I had an epidural) and I was so busy concentrating, that it wasn't something I felt that I needed to do.

 

Now had he called the sounds I made "funny" while I was actually in labor, I probably would have screamed -- at him! ;)

[Geo]

Well, if I can I have them in a birth center. They've probably heard worse. And I bet you would scream too if you were having a 10 lb baby with 15 minutes of pushing! But the one where my throat was really sore afterwards was dd#2, who weighed 9 lbs. 11 oz. and was posterior!

 

ah, you're a wimp! :boxing_smiley: (just kidding, of course!)

 

I didn't scream with #3...a posterior 10.2 pounder with shoulder dystocia...or

 

with #4...a 9.9'er who was a compound presentation

...arm alongside her head at birth (which signifigantly increases the dimensions of what your birthing)

 

but...I DID scream with #5 when pushing for hours with my 11 pounder!

(I won't say exactly how many hours...but it was under 5):tongue_smilie:

 

Yep, I thought I finally grew one that wouldn't come out :scared:

My screams were a mix of frustration, fear and MAD AS ****!

 

As for the baby, she was in great shape after the birth.

I however, had my birthin' pride knocked down to ground level!

...after all, by 5 homebirths... you're d*** near professional, right?

 

Hats off to my midwife, who (with prayer) can handle just about anything,

Geo with 6 kids

Edited July 3, 2009 by Geo

[chaik76]

Gee, I hate birth threads.

I SCREAMED. And moved my legs. Was told not to do either. It helped me, so I did. Who cares whether people scream or not. I mean...really? It hurts like...I'm not even going to say what it hurts like. And my first birth was one of the most horrible moments of my life, worse than anything before or after. If a little screaming helped, so be it. I wish more people screamed if they felt like it.

 

I seriously can't believe there are people who ROLL THEIR EYES if other women scream. What, you think they're not in pain? That they should just suck it up?

 

Sorry...this is a huge wound for me. Urg.

 

ETA: Oh and I screamed for two hours straight AFTER the first was born...I screamed until I ended up in surgery.

[Radish4ever]

I was pretty loud, but not an unproductive, scream as highpitched as possible and looked terrified kind of screamer... lol

 

I moaned loudly (my midwives kept referring to me as a lioness LOL) while birthing my 10lb1ozer at home :) I can't wait to see how this birth goes! Maybe I'll get a little quieter. hehe

 

I will say that birth scenes on TV and in movies always frustrate me to NO END!

[SnowWhite]

A lioness, that's good.

 

I did a lot of growling when Gabriel was born. Active labor started on the way to the car, throughout the 5 min. car ride, and the 5 min. walk/elevator ride to the L&D ward. Once there, we went from 6 cm to baby born in 20 min.

 

There was a loud and sincere plea for Jesus to help me, repeated once. He helped, baby arrived, and the loud growls changed to happy exclamations. I am a loud birther when it's fast and unmedicated. I highly recommend it. He only weighed 7 lb 13 oz though he was 10 days late.