11 Facts About Childbirth That Are Completely Fascinating

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There are so many interesting facts about childbirth, some things are laughable and some things perhaps not so much.

In the spirit of helping you relax whilst informing you at the same time, I’m going to run through some interesting facts about childbirth that you may not know about.

Get yourself a cuppa and keep reading.

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12 funny and interesting facts about childbirth

1. Water breaking

The movies are completely out of control.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen a woman in the movies go into labor and then suddenly their waters break like a full on waterfall.

It simply doesn’t happen that way in real life.

In all of my 4 pregnancies, my water has never actually given way until the very last moment when I hear a “pop” sound.

It’s the most unusual sound because you hear the pop inside you (if that makes sense)

For other women, whos waters break, its actually a slow trickle of water and could easily be mistaken for having urinated yourself!

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2. You might puke

This is one of those things that no one ever discusses. I’m not sure if its because no one wants to admit that it happened to them or if it was forgotten about once mom gets to hold her precious baby in her arms.

It is extremely normal to feel nauseous when you are in labor.

There could be many different reasons for this happening but the main ones are either:

1. Because you had an epidural.

An epidural can sometimes cause a sudden drop in blood pressure. This is referred to as hypotension.

2. Food in your stomach.

This is one of the reasons that it’s better not to eat anything once labor starts.

Having food sitting in your stomach during this time can cause you to feel unwell.

You should either eat only very light foods or once in active labor, water or ice chips only.

Feeling sick whilst in labor is not what you want. I’ve been there, it’s horrible.

3. Tearing

Getting a perineal tear during labor is something you want to try to avoid at all cost but ultimately it’s not always fully within your control to do so.

Tearing can happen due to a number of different reasons.

Your baby could be breech or sometimes they just come out in a funny position.

If you have torn before it could make it much more likely that you could tear again.

If you have had an episiotomy previously that could leave the area vulnerable to tearing in the future.

There are different degrees of tearing so if you are going to tear pray for a 1st-degree tear instead!

If you want to know more about tearing and how you can avoid it you find out more information here.

4. Ring of fire

If you have never experienced the ring of fire before consider yourself very lucky indeed!

It’s horrible.

Put your fingers in both sides of your mouth, now pull as hard as you can.

It’s painful.

Now imagine that pain in your nether regions?!!

STOP! Don’t even imagine it, it’s too painful.

Thankfully just by following some of the solutions in this post, you do your best to make sure you avoid it like the plague.

5. Push…Push…and then…

Poop, yep! it happens. It’s a real thing. I’ve experienced it myself.

The good news is that if it does happen to you, you won’t be the only person it’s ever happened to and you certainly won’t be the last.

If you have a really great midwife, they will get rid of that for you as soon as it comes out and won’t even acknowledge that it even happened.

Midwives are fantastic.

When you are in your final stages of delivery all your pushing is as though you are doing a big poo so needless to say it could happen.

Man comforting pregnant woman during labor in hospital

Facts about childbirth every woman needs to know

6. Inducing has its own issues

If your contractions have not progressed as well as your doctor or midwife had hoped then sometimes induction is the only way forward.

The problem with being induced is that it can lead to you having even more painful contractions. (source)

Contractions are what help to push your baby down the birth canal.

If your contractions are not strong enough your baby will not be able to come out.

Natural contractions still hurt, induced contractions hurt a little more.

7. Shaking

This one was a complete surprise to me because I had never heard of it before.

I remember after I had just delivered my baby feeling extremely shaky.

I just couldn’t get it to stop. I was a bit reluctant to tell the midwives at first because I thought that maybe something was wrong with me.

It turns out it was completely normal after all and a lot of women experience this after they have just given birth.

Its a fact about childbirth, but no one quite knows the reason behind why it happens.

Thankfully after a few hours, the shaking should stop.

8. There might be some noise

I’d heard on the grapevine that sometimes as your baby is about to cross over women can at times make a strange noise. Almost animal like.

Not every woman will do this but there certainly are a few that do.

I remember walking into the delivery ward and hearing a woman screaming like an actual animal. I was so shocked.

Little did I know that in a few short hours I would be that woman too.

As my baby was transitioning over I had the urge to make these really strange deep down loud sounds.

There was just something about it that made me feel better.

Up until that point the midwives had been pretty relaxed telling me that it wasn’t time yet. As soon as they heard that noise I remember hearing them say “she’s ready”.

Make of that what you will.

9. You will likely forget everything in your birth plan

I guess this is why we write our birth plan down before we go into labor.

It’s easy to have grand plans before heading into labor about all the lovely things we want to happen.

Sometimes things don’t go in the direction that we hoped and it’s out of our control.

Sometimes our plans also change when we feel the pain of childbirth.

The natural labor plans that we had suddenly go out of the window.

10. Ouch your poor vagina

After your baby has been delivered your vagina is left feeling very sore and vulnerable.

Honestly, it’s no wonder considering all that it has just been through.

Your vagina will be very sore and it will be incredibly tender when you sit down.

One of these donut cushions should help you out with that though.

You’ll be so grateful for it later on!

11. The pain just disappears

Once you get your baby placed firmly in your arms, all the pain that you felt seems to almost melt away.

You ALMOST feel like you could do it all over again.

There is definitely something magical about holding your baby for the first time.

Final thoughts on the facts about childbirth

Although childbirth can feel overwhelming to begin with, you just have to go with the flow and stop worrying about all the things that might not even happen.

Childbirth varies from woman to woman and nothing can be predicted,

Your job is to get as comfortable as possible and make sure your baby is delivered safely.

Don’t worry about all the things above because they might happen, but they might not.

The one thing I can tell you is that once you see your baby healthy and in your arms, it will all have been worth it. No matter all the embarrassing things that might have happened along the way.