What's the most/least realistic childbirth scene in a film or TV programme?

[BellaBearisWideAwake]

I was watching Knocked Up the other night, and it seemed ok ish, I mean nothing like my labour, and very medical, but perhaps that's just what birth is like in the USA?

My nomination for least realistic: Phoebe giving birth to triplets in Friends. Vaginally with minimal pain relief and HCPs around

I was going to say Phoebe before I opened this thread! I can't imagine that VBs are very common with triplets anyway, and at the end of it she only looks mildly red in the face but otherwise pristine - unlikely!

I thought of another awful one, well at least the pregnancy bit anyway. Father of the Bride II where the mum and daughter get pregnant months apart but end up giving birth at the same time at term. I was shouting at the telly with that one

The birth scene in apocolypto had me involuntarily pushing along.

Sonia having her baby in Eastenders - i was scared for her!

(yes, i know it wasn't real )

actually katherine heigl in knocked up had a pretty convincing prosthetic bump as well

I remember a scene in Neighbours years ago when Daphne managed to give birth without even taking her tights off.

Oh yes!!

But are there any really good ones?

I think Brooke Shields in The Blue Lagoon has to be the outright winner, SURELY? Both for the effortless labour under a palm tree (and she didn't know she was pregnant), plus the immediate, painfree, non-engorged breast feeding that followed.....

Both DH and I were traumatised by the labour in A Cock and Bull Story. It went on for ages and the mother was really scared. It was funny, but a little too close to the bone for us.

Like Daphne in Neighbours, the worst-accent-in-the-world nurse on Holby (so great an impression has she made on me her name has gone, she was supposed to be from the Philippines but sounded like Dublin?) also didn't take her tights off and gave birth in a lift in about 5 minutes.

Still on Holby, Connie Beauchamp had an emergency c-section during which she and daughter almost died, but went back to work later that afternoon.

Quinn in Glee managed to give birth in what seemed like a 5 minute show tune. it may have just been flashback stylee, so it actually lasted longer than 5 minutes, but was still impressively quick. however, the screaming and moaning was fairly realistic to me...

Phoebes on Friends is dreadful!

My nominations both from quite a long time ago so hope someone else remembers them:

Best: Natalie giving birth to the baby she didn't know she was carrying in Eastenders. I was impressed with her acting especially as the actress was a young girl who had not had a baby herself.

Worst: the 2 births at the end of the film "Nine Months" (think that was the film, the one with Hugh Grant as the reluctant father anyway). I know it was meant to be a comic scene, but it was just rubbish anyway.

The baby in every birth scene EVER filmed. The baby is always at least six months old, if not ready to celebrate its first birthday... (Yes, I know they can't exactly use a newborn with the cord attached, but still)

Also, Hollywoodland has a surprisingly low caesarean rate. In fact the only one that springs to mind (outside minor characters in hospital dramas) is Susan in Coupling. Every other major character in every other programme/series/film I've ever seen manages to have the baby naturally, without gas and air/epidurals/mooing etc etc. I do have very vague recollections of Caroline Quentin's 'labour' in Men Behaving Badly being quite realistic though.

Oops, I have read down the thread and realised I meant sonia not natalie. Natalie is the actresses' name I think!

Oh they nearly all rile me. It seems mandatory for birth scenes on TV and film to comprise the following:

• The first sign that the woman is in labour is her waters breaking in a dramatic style (although with nowhere near the amount of fluid that there can be)
• Contractions are just dealt with with a 'slight exertion' face OR the woman screams hysterically and 'amusingly' for an epidural
• Woman is always labouring and giving birth on her back (even if not in hospital)
• At some point the woman says 'I can't do it!!' and the friend/helper person (who has NO medical training) says 'Yes you can!' followed by 'I can see the head!')
• No mention is ever made of the placenta delivery
• Baby is given to mother looking a bit damp but otherwise squeaky clean, not crying, mother looks a bit tired but over the moon.
• No mention of stitches/ amount of blood loss/ sucking out gunk from babies' lungs, etc. etc.
• Mother is fine, clean hair, dressed in pre-pregnancy clothes and looking blissful from day 2.

Someone's going to say that's exactly how their labour went now...

minnieBar won't be me :)
nearly peed myself at your post btw

Every birth in Friends - still makes me throw things at the telly!

Phoebe - as already mentioned. A VB with triplets in the STATES with just a doctor there? Bollocks.

Rachel - appears to have VEs every 5 minutes but the doctor (a) never spots the breech till the last minute and then (b) calmly delivers the baby instead of panicking and rushing for an EMCS?

Bing surrogate birth - right, NO ONE mentioned it being twins? Not once apart from the hilariously misunderstood 'two heartbeats' reference? And again with the VB for twins - seriously unlikely there at any rate...

I think the birth in Children of Men was fairly realistic from what I can remember. Not many others spring to mind though.

Agree with Trina that the babies are always of a goodly age. A two-year old smeared in jam and yoghurt does not convince.

Daphne in Neighbours didn't just keep her tights on, she kept her dungarees on.
(Someone on here once posted about having their baby without getting a chance to take their tights off - they said their baby looked like a robber.)

LOL at MinnieBar's list, spot on.

Ooh ooh just remembered Robin Hood Prince of Thieves - didn't Morgan Freeman perform an episiotomy with a sword or something? Hazy memory ...

Steph in Neighbours was quite good - it's the only tv birth I remember that hasn't been a flat-on-back-in-stirrups jobby. She was crawling around on all fours afair.

The birth in Juno was fairly well done as far as I remember.... although being pregnant at the time I as sobbing so badly at that point I could barely see the screen

All Friend's births were ridiculous and 9 months and Father of the Bride 2 stuck out in my mind as particularly shit too.

The Australian chick in Lost was fairly too, young first time mother but ridiculously quick labour with minimal pushing resulting in a 4 month old Samoan looking baby... extra points for the fact that that baby was constantly left with no mother to nurse it and no formula or lactating animals available yet seemed remarkably happy and content

Scariest births on screen have to be those in Bodies (great series, btw)

Least realistic: Friends

I thought Fizz in Coronation Streets portrayal of a prem birth was really very good. The terror and pain and horror was ust painted on her face.

However Sam Womack in Eastenders as Ronnie - before she went mad - on the tube and having contractions which were hardly painful. Bollocks.