Most ridiculous pregnancy/birth depictions in films?

[le42]

I'm watching Poldark as I missed it first time around and once again the only sign/symptom of pregnancy is someone being sick and she just gave birth in minutes!

Waters breaking in a dramatic fashion is always, always the first sign of labour in films!

What other ridiculous depictions of pregnancy /birth can you remember from films?

(Disclaimer --- I'm not saying those things can never happen! Just that most of us have other experiences too!!)

I’ve never seen anyone delivering a placenta on TV- what do they do with them??

Friends- phoebe giving birth naturally to triplets. Also no monitoring the baby’s hearts...and it’s apparently “not much different to giving birth to one baby” very unrealistic

They are mostly terrible!

The one that really stands out for me though was Quinn in Glee. The whole birth scene was ridiculous and then she gave birth to a 6 month old!

Every time women see midwife/ obstetrician they have to strip from the waist down. Mostly I just unfastened my trousers. Only had an internal exam at 40 weeks to have a sweep.
In labour, women can shout obscenities during contractions.
Nobody has interventions in labour like having the clip attached to baby's head or needing BP monitored etc.

Personally I found the depictions where women are squeezing their partners hands or threatening them to be ridiculous. I became very uncommunicative unless I wanted a drink and I certainly didn't want anyone near me, let alone them touching me or me holding their hands. I wanted to just hang over the edge of the pool with my eyes shut and hold onto the handles during the peak of a contraction while simultaneously pretending I was floating in a spaceship and not there at all.

You don't usually see women vomiting during labour in films/television. I was extremely sick. The first time I was sick 4 times in a row and DH only managed to get a bucket the 3rd and 4th times. The second time I vomited in the bathroom sink and one of the extremely lovely paramedics cleaned my sink for me while his partner sat with me and DC2 waiting for the midwife.

Ooh, also you don't see women wandering around afterwards leaving a little trail of blood or wearing a mattress pad to catch it. DH followed me around with a cloth in the aftermath of DC1 as every time I moved the pad flooded. I had to sit and sleep on bed mats for weeks! Don't see women sitting on the sofa on a bed mat in films.

I loved the birth scene in Catastrophe- on all fours, yelling, throwing up and then the ‘Am I shitting myself?!’ bit. Liked how they involved all the everyday yet unglamorous aspects of birth (poo, vomit, sweating and shouting etc) that are normally left out of movie/TV scene births.

Leanne’s pregnant walk in Coronation Street

There never seems to be any mess when they give birth. I remember Daphne giving birth in her tights. I don't think the tights were even wet.

I remember seeing the episode of EastEnders (which I have virtually never watched, but caught that for some reason) when Sonia gave birth unexpectedly (hadn't known she was pregnant). Apparently a newspaper down below was sufficient, as there was no amniotic fluid and no afterbirth at all. No placenta and no umbilical cord.

None of them ever shit themselves either. No episiotomies. The woman never seems to have to contend with stitches or tearing either.

Oh, and they never even seem to fart.

I had a very cliche birth too! Dramatic waters breaking with no warning followed by speedy labour and mad rush to hospital and gave birth in stirrups.

Rachel in friends sat in a light grey dress when her waters broke and when she stood up her dress was completely dry

What to expect when your expecting - The scene where all 3 women are having very different births.

The most ridiculous I think is Skylar (Brooklyn Decker) the character, with blonde hair in pink who is giving birth to twins. It's not realistic to sneeze and give birth at all.

Jules (Cameron Diaz) who is realistic in the throes of labour

Wendy (Elizabeth Banks) is a mum who has struggled to conceive and her labour isn't going as she planned and her planned delivery is going out of view.

@edwinchester erm a great deal of us have ten pound babies as newborns thankyouverymuch

Watching old Grays Anatomy- Meredith has just had a c section - almost died. A day after she is sat up., full make wanting to run the hospital. A week later she is back at work doing major operations. Seemingly no after effects.

Obscenely short first time labours. I give you Louisa in Doc Martin and Daphne in Frasier. I know some labours can be quick, even first timers, but those two were ridiculous!

I'm a cliche too, waters broke first, gave birth in stirrups (episiotomy) and to add to it, my mom didn't know she was having twins until she birthed them.

How clean babies are when they are born.No gunk,weird looking stuff on them.

Nobody poos or vomits when in labour.I was like the exorcist,spewing everywhere.

I think Neighbours wins hands down for Daphne having that baby.Everyone still remembers it 30 odd years later,

Oohgossip, I know, including me! 😳 (almost)

I meant babies that are clearly at least 2 months old, masquerading at newborns.

I think I’m a walking tv/movie labour cliche.

Labour no.1: dramatic waters breaking as first sign of labour. Eventual labour on back in stirups.

Labour no.2: mad hospital dash and not that far off car park delivery.

All the soap babies. If you're going to have your character go into precipitous labour with no time to get to the hospital, then she won't have had an epidural. So she does not need the randomer she was arguing with to tell her when to push!

Thought of another birth scene on ‘all fours’ like Catastrophe- Gavin and Stacey when Nessa gives birth to Neil the baby. That was a good birth scene!

Heavily PG women on TV/film don't waddle around slowly, they skip about like fairies;
Friends-all of them hang around in the hospital while one is in labour;
They magically lose the baby weight overnight and are back to fully made up and perfectly turned out in no time.

Giving birth to a spotless baby with no blood and guts to be seen and the mother with a perfectly made up face without so much of a hint of smudged mascara, complete with a salon fresh hairdo.
After having a speedy delivery with plenty of shrieking of course with all the neighbours having a good gawp at your sqoosh.
Placenta's and umbilical cords are a thing of myth and folklore in telly land.

No-one can ever dispose of a pregnancy test properly in movie/soapland either. It’s always in the kitchen bin or somewhere the person they would want least to know their good news would find it

That always makes me laugh. And the person who finds it picks it up and gazes at it but never washes their hands after holding it.

Soap births, whopper babies, always delivered by the most unlikely person. I seem to remember Norris in Corrie, delivering a baby, or certainly assisting at a birth. Possibly Maxine's baby, it's a long time ago.

Kylie, in Corrie, had her baby on Gail's couch and five minutes later, after she had been taken to hospital, everyone else was sitting on the couch which was pristine.

It was possibly Curly's wife that Norris assisted, I think her name was Angie.