Being nosey- did you scream or were you quiet when giving birth?

[Princesspowersparkle]

Just being nosey really. I imagine myself being really quiet but I know when I get there I'll probably be screaming my head off. Think it will shock DH! x

Think I was pretty quiet with both,heard a woman screaming like hell,but at end of day each person to their own.It is a very primal thing,giving birth

umm 3 day labour with a back to back baby and 90 mins of pushing erm no. not lucky. Just quiet.

I remember being filled with fear on turning up at the labour ward while in labour with DS1 and hearing all these women shrieking. I changed my mind about having babies but it was too late.

I don't understand, HOW can you be quiet when you feel like you're being scrunched up into a ball and repeatedly thrown against a hard object by a brutal force?

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lol I think I lowed. In fact I made some really unearthly sounds. I'd read about it, some birthing cry thing that means you're really "in the zone", but never imagined I'd find myself doing it.

As a mouse

Twinkle,I dunno,I think in my case my head went into a different level!!I was concentrating so hard even if it was agony.Pain is a weird thing and something I am hoping to do a study about at work soon with cancer patients.(I do not think we assess it adequately where I am working)It is such a subjective thing,as the posts on here indicate.You should not feel inadequate at all.

Wonder if the "screamers" turned into birth screamers - (on a reserach base of one!!)wotcha think?

I think it was the fear thing as much as anything actually. Thinking, OMG if they think I should be managing with no pain relief now just how bad is it going to get. Answer - that was as bad as it got, and it was BAD.

I wonder,often(though it is different with chronic pain) how much expectations come into it,and anxiety.I nusre a lady who is sooo anxious,and by trying to calm her and do visualisation and lots of reassurance seems to help.I think fear of the unknown is a big issue.Poor woman she is just so scared.

Well I think fear and anxiety plays a huuuge part in it. At the beginning, I was offered paracetemol , sent for what felt like the longest walk of my life, and generally left alone with DH in absolute agony. Result, I panicked and the pain got so much worse.

Then, I was "allowed" pain relief, got in the birth pool, got a fantastic midwife, and pushed out a back to back baby for 3 1/2 hours with only gas and air (and not much of that). And I made "birthing" noises with silence in between - no screams at that stage, because I understood what was happening, horrendous as it was. And that included having to be catheterised, my contractions almost stopping completely, baby's heartrate dipping and horrendous back pain.

It just goes to show what a huge role one's state of mind has in the perception of pain.

i think back to back must make a huge difference, twink. i have a friend who had a back to back 72-hour labour and i know that she's brave and cool and not much of a fusser under normal circumstances but she was totally traumatised by her birth experience. she's having a doula this time round and is cleaning the floors a lot.

to princesspowersparkle, i'm not sure if the positioning exercises help but i know i was careful about how i sat and slept in the later stages as i didn't want to have a back to back labour like my friend. my labour was fine, it was great actually. yes it's sore but it's AMAZING as well, kinda miraculous, so just try to enjoy it. it's goiing to happen anyway, so you might as well try...

I was advised by the midwives not to grunt/groan/scream but to use the energy to focus on the contractions and the pushing. It really worked and helped get me in the zone.

thankfully with both I didn't have to be in that zone for too long!

Did you sing when it was over?

lol quattro

I was very quiet, to the point where when I got a new midwife I was told that I couldn't possibly be in labour I wasn't making enough noise I asked if I screamed for her would she believe me and get me my bloody diamorphine!
I couldn't make any noise, I kind of felt like I was concentrating or something, can't explain it really, but seemed the right way to do it for me.

Always silent.
I normally break my silence with a few silly protestations along the lines of ' this is a LIVING HELLl'
'YOU bloody did this to ME' and 'PLEASE I WANT TO DIE' and although annoying for those around me they are truly heartfelt!

The silence then returns until crowning when blasphemous words of epic proportions spring forth...again TRULY heartfelt

Is anyone else wondering why they don't soundproof those delivery rooms FGS?!

quiet aide from few mutterings maybe the odd profanity, or god I want to go home sod this for a bunch of bananas...

This is really interesting to read!

During contractions I did a lot of slow deliberate counting and also weird loud whistling on out breaths (my dh said it sounded like the bit in Shooting Stars when Bob Mortimer told a bad joke and the tumbleweeds started blowing ).

I had an epidural so there was a lot more shaking and retching than actual pain, so no real reason to scream.

During pushing, I made virtually no noise apart from grunty sort of noises. Midwife said I had a 'great technique' (am pathetically proud of this).

My cousin-in-law did a thesis about how women vocalise in labour as a coping technique and there was loads to do with low, moo-ing sounds - interesting that so many on here say that they produced those sorts of noises naturally.