Apparently while I was being born my mum was told “Would you mind keeping the noise down, the other mothers are trying to sleep.” O_o

One of my clients was told the exact same thing! They convinced her to get a dose of Staydol and she had the baby 20 minutes later. :-/

Oh, but it’s okay to scare them with threats when you want them to do this or that intervention….

With my first son, I actually apologized to nurses for making so much noise (my husband said he could hear me from down the hall). The nurses said not to worry about it and just do what I needed to do!

I was noisy during pushing once and was surprised that the nurses and doctor were nothing but supportive. However, when it was all said and done, one of the nurses came in and said, “Some of the moms were scared by the noises, but I told them you had a 9 lb 11 oz baby, and then they all understood.” I didn’t realize you were allowed to divulge personal medical information just because the other moms were scared.

Worked as a volunteer at the hospital when I was in high school. I was in L&D and saw the nurses roll their eyes and make fun of a laboring woman who was making a lot of upset noises.

Needless to say I will not give birth at this hospital.

And by upset I mean upsetting to others (obviously these nurses).

I actually had a nurse grab my face and yell, “Shut up! You are scaring the other women!” when I was crying out in pain and fear as they carted me down for my cesarean.

During my labor with my second baby, I couldn’t not cry out, there was something wrong with the pain level in my labor (I transferred–I was trying for a UBAC) and I just kept apologizing over and over and the nurses kept telling me it was okay, that it wasn’t my fault. Such a vast difference between two hospitals.

I apologized repeatedly for cursing but never for crying out–I had a doula & the L&D nurse was totally supportive, so nobody was going to mess with me. After I gave birth a mom in the room next to mine was also having a medication free birth and I could hear her cries during pushing, and I just wanted to cheer her on!

My doc said something along these lines. I was grunting/moaning/bellowing while pushing and he said, “Stop making that noise! You’re wasting your breath!” Didn’t feel like it to me!!!

My OB said something similar when I was pushing. She told me that my grunting was counter-productive. But somehow me getting enough oxygen by breathing when I wanted to was a problem too. I was yelled at for taking a breath when I started seeing stars because I didn’t make it to ten yet.

They call that “coached” pushing ‘purple pushing’, for obvious reasons.
One friend who’s birth I attended was having her first vaginal birth, and everyone in the room was “coaching” her, except they weren’t in sync with each other, so each person was yelling, “Push, one, two… Now take a breath, Hold it, now PUSH!!” But all at different times! I saw her eyes getting frantic and darting around the room so between contractions I said, “Maybe just ONE person should tell her what to do.” (God forbid she should be allowed to push with no coaching at all. They baby would never come out!)
The nurse assumed I’d meant I wanted to coach her, which was definitely not the case, and said, (insert nasal voice) “Maybe the DOCTOR should tell her.” Baby was out within a short time after that.

When the nurse/doc (I honestly don’t remember who) said this to me, all I could think was who cares what anyone else thinks about how I sound?! Of course, I now know I was the first non-epidural birth 3 of the nurses had EVER seen. So it makes more sense that everyone thought I was being loud.

I told everyone at my first birth (and will do it again at my second) “This isn’t a sporting event, if you count at me, I will kick you out!” Needless to say no one felt it necessary to count. It was a home birth however, if I end up in a hospital (against my will, long story) the second time, it will be almost funny if I have to tell a nurse to “GET OUT!” for counting at me.