Did you cry when you gave birth?

1. 70

   Meg Moonposted 12 years ago

   Every time I see someone give birth on the TV i cry my eyes out but when my own babies were born I never cried- not even a  bit. Just wondered what everyone else was like.

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   1. 61

      tohimilookposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Of course I did, and so did my husband.  I was also scared. The pain was awful.  As I experienced this pain I said to myself, IF MOTHERS REMEMEMBED THE PAIN OF THE FIRST CHILD THEY WOULD JUST HAVE ONE
      I have three children and the pain was worth it.

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   2. 0

      kimberlyslyricsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I didn't cry but did get banned for other things : 

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2. 65

   Greek Oneposted 12 years ago

   i cried during the conception of my children

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3. 83

   WriteAngledposted 12 years ago

   No, I just swore most ungenteely when it hurt.

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4. 74

   Emma Harveyposted 12 years ago

   I thought I was quite calm, and I felt incredibly sober. My partner cried his eyes out which made me well up briefly - but that was due to tiredness. Emotionally I was almost numb for a while. A very strange feeling.

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5. 63

   Lisa HWposted 12 years ago

   I'm guessing it may depend on how afraid someone is that things aren't going to be OK with the baby.  I was plenty relaxed and sure of myself enough when it came to the process of labor (etc.), but I was really afraid something would go wrong and the baby wouldn't be OK.  (I had super-quick labors, and neither of my babies were in "standard" positions, so that didn't help.)  So, I did cry once I held them and knew they were OK.  OR, maybe it depends on how fast the labor is and how sudden any changes in adrenaline take. 
   
   With the first delivery it was really bad. I was tense from the minute I knew I was in labor because it was six weeks too early.  The baby was breech.  The pregnancy had followed only one previous one that had ended in disaster at 20 weeks.  I just didn't let myself believe I'd be getting out of labor with a healthy, live, baby.  So, I think I probably had even more adrenaline than usual with that delivery.  I pretty much cried "hysterically" and felt like it wasn't going to stop. 
   
   I cried with the next one (who got to 37 weeks), but it was a little more "normal crying".   
   
   On the other side of things, I never had even the slightest bit of post-part um blues with either - so maybe getting all that emotion out of the way right after delivery helps. 
   
   Then, too, I almost wonder if the mother's age and/or history has anything to do with it.  I was 29 and 32.  I wonder if younger mothers are still at the age when they're more likely to feel immune to having anything bad happen to them?  At around 30 (or so), with a history of miscarriage and premature delivery (and then with the next one threatening to deliver from October on (when she was due the third week in January), I had little reason to assume that nothing bad was likely to happen.  Even my doctor was a nervous mess, from October on, with that second one. 
   
   (Maybe, too, it was because I was silent during the whole thing.  After all that self-control maybe a person has to go wild  once the baby's all here and safe.)   

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6. 86

   WryLiltposted 12 years ago

   I'm not the crying type (I generally have a big cry every six months or so). I was never the hormonal one who cried during pregnancy or postpartum.
   
   I had gas and air with my first, nothing but a water birth with my second. I didn't cry but:
   
   For the FIRST one I argued with the midwife when my daughter was crowning. I told her there was no damn way I could push her out and that I wouldn't do it! She told me I could (and of course I did!)
   
   With the SECOND one she was in a weird position and I don't think having her under water helped... I remember screaming at the midwife to get her out, because after her head was out, she wouldn't seem to move no matter how hard I pushed... so the midwife pulled her the rest of the way out.
   
   I only swore once with the first and not at all with the second. Although with the second I was biting my husband's shorts (he was in the bath with me) and he was getting rather worried because I had his legs apart!

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7. 94

   habeeposted 12 years ago

   Nope. I have a high tolerance for physical pain. I had three teenage daughters at the same time, however, and I cried plenty then. lol

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   1. 74

      wearing wellposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Ditto, 3 natural births and no crying until my eldest became a teenager.....HELP !!!!!!

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8. 79

   Sally's Troveposted 12 years ago

   No crying giving birth...I was too busy. But even now, 30-some years later, when I hear a baby cry, I get all schmaltzy and even sometimes teary.

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9. 63

   Lisa HWposted 12 years ago

   I apparently misunderstood the question.  Oops.    I thought it meant did people cry once their baby was born - not during labor.  Again, oops - and no.  I said nothing, didn't yell, and didn't cry.

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10. 70

    Meg Moonposted 12 years ago

    Hi just to clarify my original point as I think there has been some misunderstanding- I meant upon seeing your newborn baby for the first time did you cry- as in happy emotional tears

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    1. 73

       Ciel Clarkposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I think seeing my two sons for the first time was the only time I experienced happy tears.  I didn't weep, but tears fell from my eyes as I looked at them.

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11. 63

    prettydarkhorseposted 12 years ago

    Both, while in labor and upon seeing the baby, I cried silently. Silent tears of joy for the latter.

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