Mumsnet Talk

Does anyone else actually enjoy having a good old holler?

Has anyone else been drugged by errant health professionals attempting to quieten the process?

(1st and only hospital birth, told I was taking pethidine or epi (no choice of just nothing) because I was scaring other people on the ward! I try my best.)

My mother was slapped on the face twice for screaming whilst in labour, in the 1970s.

My doctor did tell me to stop screaming and start pushing whilst I was in labour with dd1. He had a point but I was very angry with him at the time!

Shouting during childbirth is healthy, IMO. I too was told off for making too much noise. DP told them they should close the door then.

Loving the phrase "Banshee Birthing"

If anyone had slapped me in the face during labour, I would have slapped them straight back!

yes it's horrifying isn't it LS.

I did in my second but was told by the midwife that i was putting too much energy into screaming and not enough into pushing adn the only resutl would be a sore throat. I stopped screaming and the baby came out.

But I was screaming becasue they wouldn't give me an epi or pethidine!

I brought this up on another thread and was shocked at how many of us had been told / embarrassed into keeping quiet
I wasn't even being that loud

I was as quiet as a mouse. The only noises I made were heavy breathing noises. It never occurred to me to make a noise.

However I only got to 9cm dilated before I had a cs, so maybe I would have been a screamer in the 2nd stage?

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With my second birth I didn't scream because I was concerned about the neighbours hearing (home birth). My midwife told me to make other noises instead, which were probably more effective then screaming.

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It was 2003, Pruners, and yes the whole atitude of the midwife was very old fashioned

I didn't want to scream, I wanted to make animal type noises while being on all fours
the midwife said something like "steady on" and of course you feel a complete tit

it is really common for people to be told to quieten down or pull themselves together or whatever
unbelievable really

PMSL star!

Admittedly, the sorest part of my being following birth was my throat. I was no where near pushing at the time though, I was absolutely silent throughtout that bit... at which I was told I was being too quiet and must therefore be too tired to manage. Rubbish! Nutters.

Lynette, fair play to your DP! That is the voice of reason and common sense

belgo draconian! Mind you, pethedine was jammed into my thigh without my consent. She had the blurdy jab ready, behind her back when having a go about my noise levels! I probably would have walloped her had I not immediately become an incapacitated mess... equally loud but totally incoherent

i was told if i was screaming i wasn't pushing - to which i screamed louder and told her to f off because it bloody hurt.
silly tart. there was no way i couldn't not scream - i was an animal.

With my home birth (which was not painfull) I mooed like a cow - a lot As it was summer, all thie windows were open, and the neighbours heard it all!The only time they actually spoke to us in the 2 years we lived next to them was to congratualte DH the next morning!

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the midwife said something like "steady on" and of course you feel a complete tit



I mood like a cow the whole way through transition and second stage - incredibly loudly! It really helped me.

I would have been mortified had anyone told me to stop.

Sorry - I think that should be 'mooed'!

I know sabire, I can honestly pinpoint that moment as the moment where it all started to go wrong
I ended up flat on my back, epidural, forceps, yikes
bit more mooing would have done me the end of good

being about to do it all again I have hired a doula this time and instructed her to make sure I can make noises like the whole ruddy menagerie if I want to

I had the same "stop screaming start pushing" comments, firstly she only believed he was crowning once I started screaming, and since I pushed him out in 4 minutes, I'm not sure the screaming stopped me pushing at all.

With DS1 I was that drugged up can barely remember it, but the bits I do remember was me screaming, so the drugs didn't help!

My midwife told me to 'moo' the vowels - aaaahhh,eeeeeeh,eyeeeeee,oowwww, youuuuu it did distract me, in a good way.

LMAO Belgo, will have to remember that....!

I didn't actually scream but could hear some weird primal noises reverberating loudly around the room in the time just prior to DS being born which I can only assume was me! Nobody seemed disturbed by them though, my birth partners & midwife were totally fine with anything & everything I did during my labour (in hospital Birth Centre).

I attended Active Birth Antenatal Yoga classes with Janet Balaskas (really great if expensive!) for a few weeks & she advocated trying to do deep, low, drawn out "AAAAOOOOOOOUUUUUUMMMMMM" sounds to steady breathing & centre youself which I used in the darkened shower room whilst slowly rolling my pelvis & directing the hot jet of water onto my lower back before I transferred to the pool which I enjoyed a lot & found a very powerful release when experiencing such intense physical sensations.

I think from what I read when pregnant high-pitched screaming constricts the whole body & releases unhelpful adrenaline into the system which stops the good hormones doing their thing.

Shocked at the medics' treatment of others & their mothers though.

Each to their own!

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