POLL - are you a screamer, a moo-er or eerily silent during labour?

[MrsTittleMouse]

From the "lying down to be examined" thread - there seem to be a few of us who begged to be examined because the midwives didn't believe that we were in labour. It happened to me, and I was completely silent during contractions, so I assume that it is more normal to be vocal. Is it? No judgement call about whether any method is "better" by the way - I'm in the "whatever gets you through" camp.

Silent!

Screaming would have taken too much energy. It's a shame that people don't realise that the silent ones are in agony too; they think we're coping when really we're too scared and in pain to do anything at all!

I whimpered and ow-ow-ow'ed a lot at home for fear of being heard by the neighbours, then was absolutely silent in the cab on the way to the hospital, and then screamed and howled like a banshee the minute I got into the hospital (suddenly hit transition....) and all through delivery. There was some very dirty cussing during crowning as well...

Not a screamer, not silent! More of a 'Oh my God'or 'Jesus Christ' type of thing during labour. Never, ever felt the urge to swear or get mad. More feeling sorry for myself!

Pretty quiet with contractions, but did a lot of grunting and moaning when pushing.

Not overly loud, could hear the midwife (the only one trained for waterbirth) down the corridor shouting at someone to push. Remember thinking "Hurry up and push, so she can get to me!"

mooer if I have to choose from the OP
quiet mostly until crowning but then definately not quet.

I roar

Can I add to the group of self-pitying crying that I'd changed my mind.... Pushing though was a definite scream that woke up the whole street

Very quiet but only because was afraid if I opened my mouth someone might steal my gas and air!
I got abit posessive of it!

I was told to be quiet at dd1 birth as i was wasting energy I was pushin for nearly two hours but wasnt makin much noise! dd2 i went into trance with contraction and commented after each contraction pain scale but made eerrr noises when pushin.
Go with the flow and do what comes naturally and helps you to cope.

I moaned during the later contractions and then bellowed VERY loudly like some sort of wildebeest. Despite the fact that I was out of my tree with the pain and intensity of it all, some small part of me had the presence of mind to be embarrassed about the noise I was making. I kept remembering it for weeks afterwards and cringing.

I moo.

I mooed.....just call me Daisy

air-raid siren - winding up to "here it goes again, I can't stand it, shoot me now, where's the hammer to hit me over the head, please make it stop" and wind dooooown to semi-comatose nothing.

I really thought I would be swearing my head off and being a complete bitch to DH but no. And I had warned him his chest hairs were at risk but I didn't have the energy to reach for them so contented myself with crushing his hands.

ii bleated like a sheep

I probably mooed , but I also talked a lot to DD, telling her she was doing well, telling her I was looking forward to seeing her, and at various points telling her to hurry up. I did not swear - which surprised me, my DH and my best friend who was there. I find it difficult not to swear under normal circumstances but did not feel the urge to curse - my friend even said to me 'you can swear you know'!

Sorry - I will add "whimpering" to the list.

same here Pavlov - I normally struggle not to swear so it was a real surprise that I didn't.

I cried the whole time, on both occasions. In the final stages I moved on to the mooing and I think I was a complete nightmare as the MWs spent most of the time telling me off for wasting energy that I should have been using to push. I apologised to them afterwards.

Oh, I certainly didn't talk to the baby. I pretty much forgot why I was there doing what I was doing, so my first words when she arrived were "we have a baby" as though it was a complete shock and I hadn't gone through 9 miserable months of pregnancy, wishing that it would all be over. Talking to the baby sounds lovely.

Silent most of the way through labour apart from the odd 'ow' and 1 request for more drugs (refused) then a kind of 'Ggggggrrrr' with each push.

I was meant to be having a HB and when I eventually had to go to hospital the way there were screams echoing down the corridors scared the hell out of me. They really need better soundproofing in maternity wards...

Silent mostly, with hypocd but NOT when it got to transition!!!!!!

MrsTittleMouse - I wonder how much I was talking to myself/about myself 'come on baby, you are doing good, come on, keep going....' but she was also needing monitoring and I was in part willing her to do it herself as she chose to come along when I had been booked in for early induction and the 'c' word was vaguely mentioned, so I think I was willing her to do good and do it herself. which she pretty much did. I found it kept me focussed...that and 'walking up the stairs' and then back down again with each contraction

I, er, swore lots at the midwives because they were annoying me, and screamed a bit the first time round.

With DD3 i can't remember much except walking around the room faster and faster and crying when DD3 turned and i had back labour. After that i gave in to the pethidine, fell asleep and woke screaming and fully dilated.

MOOOOOod.

Apparently sounded like I do in sex for first less painfull bit.

Then moo'd.

The called everyone a bitch, bastard, incompetent arse - thats from my memory. DH says there was a fat cow in there too.

So obviously they gave me an epi to stop me insulting all the staff but then I didn't really cheer up.

During pushing lots of 'come out baby' and 'get out baby' and 'oh for f''ks sake come out baby' and then I big 'YES I DID IT' when she delivered. That guttural pushing groan is the most satisfying thing on the planet. Oh the relief of leting that out.

for hours after and wrote very nice apologies to all concerned/offended.

Also did alot of pushing the wall, and a tree outside the hospital.