Royals being put to sleep to give birth? *MNHQ edited the title for some sort of clarity*

[Butterandsugar]

Posting in here for traffic, and also in case my lack of experience is at play here.

I have just been advised that when the royal family are due to deliver their babies they are put to sleep and someone else does the "work" for them because it is deemed too traumatic an experience.

Note, apparently this isn't a long winded and not really accurate attempt at saying they have caesarians.

I have scoffed at this, but an being told that this truly is the case. AIBU to not see how this is physically possible? And why on earth something like giving birth is deemed below the royals if so?

[ChelleDawg2020]

Source please.

[smoothliminal]

By 'I have just been advised' do you mean 'I just dreamed this and now I think it's true'?

[KitKatCHA]

I really thought this was going to be about having the Queen put down

[RaptorInaPorkPieHat]

Me too KitKat

[Branleuse]

I think that used to happen a few years back, not just to monarchs, but a sleeping anaesthetised labour was deemed a good thing. There were masses of problems with it. I dont think it still happens usually, and not in the same way

[LeighaJ]

Which tabloid did you read this in? 🤔

[Branleuse]

www.bellybelly.com.au/birth/twilight-sleep/

[MrsHathaway]

Are you thinking about Queen Victoria ? She was so impressed with how much easier it had been to have DC7 under chloroform that she recommended it to everyone and did the same for DC8.

[GinIsIn]

I don’t know who’s advising you, but I suggest you find someone else.....

[Butterandsugar]

It sounds ridiculous doesn't it? My manager in work is adamant this is what happens.

She's normally very logical and sensible

[KurriKurri]

Who advised you? Unless it was the Queen's obstetrician I would say your advisor is talking bollocks.

[Tink2007]

I fully expected this to say the Duke of Edinburgh has been put to sleep.

[Butterandsugar]

I don't read tabloids

[tomatosalt]

Twilight sedation during labour was once popular for well off women. Apparently the queen gave birth this way herself:
babyology.com.au/pregnancy/birth/were-still-recovering-from-the-queens-twilight-birth-scene-in-the-crown.html

[Piffpaffpoff]

I think that was quite a ‘normal’ process for many mothers in the olden days, it was called twighlight sleep or something?

They showed it being used on The Queen in ‘The Crown’ - here’s a blog about it.

I really doubt it happens now though.

[MrsHathaway]

I think your manager has been reading too many shitty magazines and gossip websites

[LeighaJ]

Branleuse

Wait...really? As scared of labour as I am I would find the idea of being knocked out cold for it even scarier.

[Asheth]

Queen Victoria used to be given chloroform to knock her out when she gave birth. She considered it miraculous after her first few births with no pain relief and the use in childbirth was widespread. I think modern royals use safer forms of pain relief like the rest of us!

[FifiVoldemortsChavvyCousin]

The reason general anaesthetic is not used for labour is that whenever a person is put under there is a good chance they will not wake up. It is only in the 20th century anaesthetics have become more reliable. I doubt any doctor would have risked death to avoid trauma.

[retirednow]

Has she been watching series 2 of The Crown

[LooksBetterWithAFilter]

Wonder if this comes from the Netflix series The Crown where the queen is drugged and Edward pulled out of her.
It wasn’t something exclusive to Royals. It’s called Twilight sleep and women were given drugs to keep them semi conscious during labour. It was horrible and traumatic for babies and mothers.

[BevBrook]

Queen Victoria, after having seven kids, demanded chloroform for her eighth. This ushered in an era of heavily medicalised births (not for everyone, but also not just for royalty). It was then realised this led to all kinds of problems for babies and mums, and it stopped.
Disclaimer: I got that from a quick browse of the internet and a vague knowledge of history.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I suspect that this is a load of total baloney!

It might have happened in the past - there was something called Twilight Sleep, where women were given a powerful drug that not only provided analgesia during childbirth, it also erased the memory of birth altogether.

It used morphine and scopolamine, but the latter had some pretty horrific side effects, according to this article:

"Scopolamine caused women to lose their inhibitions, and have no conscious awareness of what was happening to them. The small amount of morphine used didn’t prevent pain, but contributed to women becoming uninhibited, and even psychotic. Many women would thrash around, bang their heads on walls, claw at themselves or staff, and scream constantly. They would either be restrained on their beds, by their wrists and ankles, or put into straight jackets.

Often blinded by towels wrapped around their heads to prevent injury, they would be put into ‘labour cribs’ – cot-like beds that prevented them from falling to the floor. They would remain on the beds, bound and screaming, often lying in their own vomit and waste, for as long as it took for labour to end."

This practice was used in the early years of the 20th century, but soon fell out of favour, due to the side effects, and risks to the baby.

I highly doubt that any obstetrician would perform a caesarian unless it was medically necessary.

[Queenoftheblitz]

I don't believe the current queen did that. I know someone on private phone number terms with her and she's very down to earth and says "fuck" a lot.
I bet her lazy mother went for the knock out though.

[twer]

I clicked on this thinking there was a mass cull of monarch butterflies.



(As you were...)