We all have different stories. We all need to understand that someone elses story wont be ours. Its a gamble….we could have a tough birth and things might go smoothly. Just dont know.

Social media has a lot to answer for.

Absolutely. There are things you can’t unsee. It’s different to someone explaining their situation vs you physically watching it. I just don’t think it’s helpful or necessary. Choose not to watch though.

Nothing new under the sun !
Personally I never felt the need to share my birth experiences with the world.

I was scared and will be again when I have another

All births are scary

Yes it scared me watching videos etc but nothing can prepare you no matter what birth you have it’s horrific

I found the more horror stories I read the more relaxed I was about giving birth naturally. I felt prepared for the absolute worst. In hindsight it really wasn’t that bad. At the time it was horrific but it could have been about 20 thousand times worse.

It probably does encourage a fear of natural birth but the fear was probably already there a bit too.

Fear inhibits labour. Fear creates pain. We are (as a general rule..) out of touch with nature and what our bodies and brains need to birth without fear! Our society has created a lot of fear of birth / pain through tv and movies, in addition to only hearing horror stories from other women. I for one had two amazing natural drug free births (even though I was induced both times for blood pressure / preeclampsia issues). Ladies do your research, look into hypnobirthing or calm birth classes.. birth can be totally amazing and empowering and transformative. I wish social media would normalise natural birth. You dont need to be afraid. Trust your bodies ladies!! No your baby isnt “too big”. You are amazing and your body is designed to birth. Trust this and throw away the fear!!
As a side note – move your bodies during labor. Sway, sing, breathe!
No one poops lying down and trying to birth lying down makes zero sense!

They reckon the more babies you have the shorter labour is likely to be. I know one Mum who had 4 babies. Each one she had the labour time was longer.

Yeah you really only hear the horror stories told as those are what catches people’s attention. This is where doctors need to step in and say no, C sections are serious, invasive surgery that should only be used when necessary not as a selective procedure. Women need to remember that our bodies are designed to give birth, unless there are complications let your body guide you. I’ve been one of the lucky mums to have had wonderful delivery experiences with minimal labour time.

The thing is, everyone is different. Pain thresholds are different and what happens during labour is always different. All 3 of mine were different, the last being the worst for me

I didn’t watch much movies or read many birth stories before I had my kids. I had the story of my mum who gave birth to 5 daughters all at home, all breastfed. i had the stories of my oldest sister who was a midwife and had 2 home births by my mum at home. I didn’t feel scared at all for giving birth, even though my first was delivered by emergency C-section, 10 weeks too early. I trusted the medical system and felt in good hands.
Beautiful birth stories and sad ending birth stories have always been around, but it is natural and we shouldn’t “over-medicalise” it.

Of course childbirth is scary, but it’s also natural. Big difference these days is all the graphic content on social media. If you didn’t watch it or be a part of it, then a lot of your fears may be much less.

These stories have been around forever it’s just that we have more access to them nowdays. Birth the way you prefer.

I didn’t have online forums or tv shows when my bubs were born and I was scared of birth. Even the second time round was scarey, cos all births are different so they’re scarey. Giving birth is scarey and it hurts. No hiding the facts