House of The Dragon childbirth scene

[ReeseWitherfork]

(Sorry if this has been discussed, couldn’t see it anywhere?)

Anyone else find the childbirth scene just too much? A quick google tells me the producers apparently showed it to the women in their lives who said it needed to be more traumatic if anything. Important to show how horrific and dangerous childbirth can be. Especially with Roe v Wade etc.

So part of me thinks I’m burying my head in the sand for not being able to stomach it. But a bigger part of me thinks I know how the dangers of childbirth and I don’t want to see it messed about with for entertainment purposes. Such a detailed scene seems distastefully “shock value” and nothing more.

Any thoughts or opinions?

I'm sorry but it a game of thrones sequel not loose women. Watch something else if you don't want gore.

Apparently, the first recorded c-section that saved the life of both mother and baby was performed by a pig-gelder in Switzerland in 1500.

@ReeseWitherfork the locked-in-a-vault death was probably the one that stayed with me the most from GoT. I had to convince myself they would both suffocate to death really quickly to stop thinking about it.

Absolutely this.
The trouble is, scaring women with tales (and tv) of horrible childbirth makes women anxious. Being anxious leads to poorer outcomes around birth and more reliance on medical assistance which leads to a difficult birth. The story of which is then relayed to other women and the catch 22 cycle continues.
Men across history have medicalised child birth- a lot has saved lives of course, but also a lot has been medicalised for the convenance of male doctors with little regard for the woman’s comfort or ongoing health and well-being. This has caused child birth to be feared.
I would absolutely love positive births to be shown so much more. (realistic ones, not the mum does 2 half hearted pushes and a 3 month baby is placed in her arms)

Oberyn Martell's death scene haunted me for months!

@MuddlerInLaw that was just from a very quick Google (I was trying to find some statistics from the White Ribbon Alliance but couldn’t), I’m sure it’s possible to find the breakdown in individual countries.

Shireen's death was the worst for me in GOT.

But childbirth is absolutely horrific and I am not exaggerating when I say I literally no no-one who has a positive birth story. Women should be aware of what will and may happen in order to prepare themselves.

I found it difficult to watch (possibly made worse because I’m pregnant and will be having a c section soon!). But I think the scene worked well for the story.

It made the queen’s comments about childbirth being her battlefield more powerful, and the fact that she had said that this would be her last pregnancy made it all the more tragic.

Her lack of choice was so jarring and the powerlessness in her most vulnerable moment was awful… but the kind of awful that feels appropriate to the story, rather than random gory violence to fill space.

@Bimblybomeyelash I came on to say exactly the same as you. Most childbirth I’ve seen on film and TV has been straightforward, waters break bit of shouting and then baby out. They don’t show the long births like mine where you don’t get any pain relief despite being in pain for days.

I found it extremely hard to watch. I could just feel that hopeless panic that sets in when you’re in pain and no one is doing anything about it. But, I was glad that they showed it that way. Childbirth is hard, women do risk their lives. A lot of men will watch this show, and I can’t explain why but I think it’s good for them to see the harsh reality rather than the “waters break, here’s your baby” we normally see.

Thank the gods for epidurals though.

Im 28 weeks pregnant and going to have a C-section, i watched it thinking thank god for being alive today.
I wasnt bothered about it, but i wonder if its because i knew about it before hand so less of a shock value and i have had a C-section before so less distressing.
But thats not to say if i had seen it before i had my first or directly after my C-section i wouldnt have been affected, as many things triggered me for a while after

Sybil's death in Downton was one that stuck with me and couldnt get out of my head.

I've never seen that episode and never will.

I also skipped most of the Reek chapters when I reread the books.

I’m not sure how realistic it was. We know from historical records that c-sections were performed, but only after the mother had died in order to try and give the baby a chance. Doctors knew full-well that a woman couldn’t survive that procedure in those days and I’m not sure how many would go against their oath of “first do no harm” to knowingly kill a mother, with no guarantee of a live baby at the end of it. There are records of queens having stillbirth after stillbirth (look at poor Catherine of Aragon) and nobody jumped their birthing bed with a knife. I think it’s more likely they would have broken the baby’s collarbones to get it out once they’d realised there was slim chance it would be born alive.

Sybil's death in Downton was one that stuck with me and couldnt get out of my head

Oh, me too. I’d had pre-eclampsia and a life-threatening post-partum haemorrhage with my oldest and it was tough seeing the what-could-have-been onscreen.

(Sadly though that was another situation where a real- life Sybil would have had almost no chance of a good outcome in the 1920s, no matter which doctor was managing her care.).

collarbones …

I was thinking of something even more grisly than that being done to save the mother. But my memory of veterinary practice (in novels) is thankfully hazy.

@fyn It was the Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/how-accurate-house-dragons-birth-scene/

TLDR: Medieval c-sections never occurred when the mother was still alive, only after she had already died.

For anyone else that is interested there was a fascinating podcast on the history of childbirth from the Rest is History podcast. I’d highly recommend people listen: play.acast.com/s/the-rest-is-history-podcast/191-childbirth

@Blaengwnfi I think I will check out the podcast, thanks. Not to be pedantic but… dragons weren’t around in medieval times either. It’s not technically historical fiction is it? On that basis I’d allow them a bit of artistic licence.

@DungareeClad Haha yes you are quite right! It was definitely added for the shock value, the ethics of which I’d argue are questionable…

Yea I thought it was an interesting talking point. I did wonder if I’ve gone soft too (although I have watched and enjoyed The Boys since so that argument doesn’t hold up!). The discussion has gone much the way I expected though and I don’t think my mind is much clearer.

Although interesting point from @fyn that actually it isn’t historically accurate and @DungareeClad pointing out that a show about dragons probably won’t be anyway 😂

I think perhaps my biggest issue with it was from the news articles I was reading afterwards. “…particularly important in light of Roe v Wade….” They need to sssssh with any suggestion that there was some sort of social campaign raising awareness for women’s rights, and not just GoT being GoT.

Yes, me too. Nothing else in GoT really bothered me. I'd read the books so knew what was coming for most of the big shock moments. But that episode was really hard to watch and I actually will fast forward it when I eventually get round to doing a full rewatch.

Re the HotD childbirth scene, I don't feel it was overly graphic, although certainly distressing. I thought it was pretty clear it was a case of lose the Queen or lose both, although I don't recall the exact words.

I found it very distressing, but that could have been my personal situation (2 x CS) I watched it with DH and a very awkward air just hung around the room for a while afterwards, I think he was afraid to look at me 😂 I’m not sure how realistic it was medically speaking, but it did highlight the lack of value to a woman’s life and how little choice she had in her own destiny, which I assume is what they were trying to get across.

It's not from the book; something similar happens but to an earlier different character, so it's a deliberate choice from the scriptwriters to write that scene now for broadcast in the current climate : although Aemma was always going to die naturally in childbirth.

However, filming finished in February, months before Roe v Wade was overturned, so although the writers' choices may have been influenced by a general feeling that reproductive rights were under attack, they wouldn't have been a direct response to RvW.

My God. I’ve had two vaginal births without pain relief so I don’t think I’m a total wimp about pain but reading this I am…speechless, really. That must have been terrifying.

Completely agree with this.

It was graphic and gruesome and I struggled to watch, but it showed women were (& sadly still often are) treated like brood mares whose lives mean nothing as compared to males and producing a male heir. And the people making those decisions are always male!

I watched it behind my splayed fingers like a wuss.