Do I watch One Born Every Minute before giving birth?

[HK171]

Hi everyone,

28 weeks pregnant with first baby. I'm reading and listening to some hypnobirthing stuff, which I really like - being relaxed, feeling empowered no matter how things pan out etc. I'm generally a fairly chilled person and don't put myself under too much pressure, though know I can get overwhelmed in certain stressful situations.

I don't know how much to go into the less positive side of birth beforehand. For example, watched Yorkshire Midwives, which I loved but is really pretty gentle viewing! Have friends who went into birth a bit uninformed or not knowing much about the stuff that can go wrong and both had quite traumatic births. My question is, does going in knowing a bit more about the scary stuff help you to cope if that is eventually what happens or just it make you more scared? Do I crack open One Born Every Minute?

It really depends on you as a person. I was obsessed with one born, and this helped me feel more informed during labour and I felt I understood more of what was happening because of this! It helped me 'picture' labour which was something I was struggling to do, but as I say it depends on you as a person. Congratulations and all the best x

Completely up to you and how you cope in tricky situations, if you want to know what could happen then go ahead but if your just going to get scared and anxious and it won't help then no. It might help if you read up a bit instead on a c section or something like that as a kind of half way house.

I watched a lot of OBEM with my first pregnancy. I’m not sure I would recommend it, many of the women on there have highly medicalised births (or did a decade ago, not seen it recently). It does give a realistic overview of the types of things that go wrong, but if you’re likely to get anxious about that it might be best to avoid.

I did, as a kind of "this is what I want to avoid when I give birth" kind of way. My midwife said they only film the "interesting " births that make good dramatic viewing. Calm, low risk births where the woman doesn't sustain injuries don't make good TV.
I can't even see the credits without feeling traumatised now I'm the mother of 2.

I personally read rather than watched before my first as it is less emotionally affecting.

Watching OBEM will not inform you, it is a TV programme with carefully constructed story arcs and is designed to pull your emotions.

I would suggest researching the latest books/articles and reading those.

I wouldn't bother to be fair. I had two, natural, vaginal births with gas and air and they were both very different. You also can't imagine actually giving birth until you have done it IMO.

But if it'll help soothe your nerves go for it.

Absolutely second the above. It's telly, so they pick the 'interesting' births, not the unremarkable ones. There are a million different possible experiences and outcomes and you're seeing a snapshot on the programme. If it will help you feel more prepared then watch it, but chances are your reality won't match anything you see on there.

I think Emma Willis' one is a better watch. More variety of births, rather than just the extreme ones. I watched all of her episodes and found I felt really educated about some things NCT had glossed over. Also the emotion of the moment that babies are born was always caught in a way that was really lovely so I felt super excited to meet my baby. There's still some medical emergencies like a cord prolapse but also a lovely gentle water birth and a brilliant home birth too. Really recommend.

I watched them, but they are entertainment more than educational. I did the NCT course, found some of it a bit woo. I reckon if I had not gone to the NCT course I wouldn’t ever have thought to give birth on my knees, to help my pelvis open up. I would’ve tried to give birth laying on my back. I think I lasted about 30seconds on my back before I switched to kneeling.

the NCT course gave me confidence to trust my instincts and get into a position I wanted and not what the midwives wanted so they could see what was happening easier.

I’ve had 3 births all on my knees. Gas and air was enough for me. contractions be quite strong. And the gas and air help me ride them out instead of panicking and fighting them.

before birth I found asking mothers I knew for their birthing experiences. I especially found the stories from women who’d had a lot of children very useful. They’d had a mix of experiences and were realistic about what happens in good and bad situations.

the hospital course was utter shite, the midwife who ran it was very condescending and basically told us all that hypnobirthing was rubbish and we’d be crying for epidurals. It was a lecture in don’t bother with a birth plan, this is where you can park the car, and that the one birthing pool probably won’t be yours.

Agree with PP Emma Willis delivering babies is better. I'm 27 weeks with number 2 and im addicted to any type of birth show I love them.

No. You’ve got no one to help you properly understand it, eg “it was an emergency there” or “she gave consent beforehand “ or “that’s extremely rare”.

I did watch a few when I was pregnant with DC2 but I think it’s not great for a first pregnancy.

My dd cracked up the honest midwife, as it was zoom I ended up listening and it was very good. Certainly helped dd deal with Labour

The yorkshire midwives programme was a joy to watch.

I watched 8 seasons before my daughters birth. I wish I hadn't.

Calm, low risk births where the woman doesn't sustain injuries don't make good TV. agree with this, and its important to remember that calm, low risk are also the vast majority.

I haven't been watching one born, but if I could recommend anything it would be Emma Willis Delivering Babies, I have been binge watching over the last couple of months and think it's absolutely fantastic!

One born is highly edited to show you things that are salacious, exciting or upsetting. It's not representative of real life. I wouldn't watch it to be educated. But it would be a very good idea alongside all the hypnobirthing stuff to read up on the risks and benefits of things like epidural, forceps vs ventouse vs emergency c section, how to recognise when things are going wrong, what is likely to happen if you need intervention. It will give you a much better idea of what intervention you're happy with. For eg, i decided against forceps or ventouse because of the higher risk of injury so i said if i was looking to be heading towards intervention i wanted to go directly to csection. It pays to be forewarned so you can make your own informed decisions.

I binged pretty much all of it before both my births.

I enjoyed it. Not sure if it prepared me one way or the other, but I didn't scare me.

Er no. The bits I caught gave me nightmares and I think I would have joined a convent had I not already been pregnant 😂

I watched a few episodes and also researched birth complications online. Telly is too dramatic, online articles are too optimistic in my opinion. Reading mumsnet though in my last two months upto giving birth made me more ‘educated’ than all midwives attending me at hospital together, I kid you not.
Do search what could go wrong and what should the next step be because even though the NHS is trying it’s best, they will still pick the cheaper, more convenient routes for them. I don’t blame them but you have to be on top of your game and make decisions for yourself(they know best, it’s their job is bs). I would also advise to make these decisions beforehand because once you are labour, your brain won’t quite work understandably.
My first time giving birth was a complete shitshow but coudve been so much worse. If I let them leave me to labour and go towards the forceps, ventouse birth, we would not be here today with my son. That comes from the surgeon who did my csection and praised me for standing my ground and demand the surgery. The whole cascade of inductions is just torture. If the first way(normally pessary) doesn’t work, according to the experiences I’ve read here, there is normally something wrong and it’s best to be sliced. My second birth was like a spa treatment because I opted for csec straight away. Recovery and newborn hell though…
all that said my kids are the healthiest, most lively, willful kids I’ve ever met.

This. Glad I avoided OBEM until after my two (straightforward) births. Good advice above on reading up on interventions- more evidence based, less dramatic effect.

No it's a load of nonsense anyway. Every birth is different just go with the flow and don't plan anything and you'll be fine.

Everyone told my sister to watch when she was pregnant with her first. First episode she tried had a very sad outcome and it absolutely terrified her.

I've watched a lot but I second watching Emma Willis instead it has a nicer feel than one born in my opinion

Thanks so much for your thoughts on here! Seems general advice is to prepare but with a more informative approach - absolutely true that OBEM is for entertainment not information.

Thanks again :) Glad I asked before clicking play!