One born every minute labour

[Jollymollyx]

I still can’t get my head around the women on one born every minute. I’ve had two kids and my understanding is you need to be in established labour to be in the delivery room- at which point I’ve had back to back contractions and in pain, no time to talk laugh sit there playing cards?

Is it because I labour fast and others are established but slow contractions or is this because of the show?!

Some of them are being induced so they aren't in active labour yet. Or they have had epidurals?

Different women labour differently
I know people who took it all in their stride for various reasons or inductions.

I think it's nice they're showing women labouring differently instead of either water birth / lying on the bed shouting (nothing against either by the way, I just think OBEM seems to edit/select what they show for good TV).

Most people on OBEM are induced - which is how the TV company knows what day they are coming in, can set up cameras etc - and of course record the pre labour interviews with those people they are going to feature.

Not always. My friend was asked during her antenatal care if she wanted to be on the programme, they would do the pre interviews a fair few weeks in advance anyway so it wouldn't make much difference. (She declined).

I would have a guess also that if you've consented to be on OBEM you're more likely to get a private room sooner because they can't film if you're on a ward, as other people wouldn't have consented.

I played cards after my epidural and I played a long game of trivial pursuit on the labour ward after my induction but before my labour was established.

I had an epidural so was happily reading my book and chatting until DC was basically crowning

OBEM isnt real life- it's edited highlights. Lots of people use hypnobirthing and are calm the whole way through labour, it just depends on the situation. You never know the full story with that programme.

I've been induced on all 3 of mine, on my last DD the midwife came in with the gas & air, I said I don't actually want the gas & air (it made me feel horrible) her reply was that they were begining to worry as I was having full on contractions yet I was sitting there eating lunch & chatting away! She was afraid I'd go too far & would rely on gas & air for pushing. Some people react differently to pains, I've a ridiculously high pain threshold

If you pay close attention to OBEM, the majority are inductions. They all come waddling in with no pain. They also don’t always specify when women have had epidurals.

I got a little sleep after my epidural.. not exactly restful sleep but I was able to nod on and off after being awake for 36 hours!

I reckon they must swap their participation in the show for a private room from the beginning. And like PP have mentioned, lots of inductions which is nice and convenient for filming!

Yeah I think it must be inductions then or epidurals, because it’s true they walk in like there’s no contractions.

I get some people don’t feel as much pain and are calmer but from what I’ve seen if you’re not in a lot of pain they send you back home.

I labour fast 3-10cm in less than an hour, pushing always less than 10 minutes so probably why my experience is completely different.