Could Men Handle the Agony of Childbirth?

[Agschmid]

The Dutch guys are ready to answer that question...

#!

WARNING: Couple swears in this video. They may be Dutch, but their expletives transcend language barriers.

[seabeyond]

1. i couldnt handle the agony, i had an epidural. nurse bob was my very best friend.

but then, of course without the epidural, i like all women, would handle it. lol. no choice. just as men would.

and yes, i get it is about a video...

[Agschmid]

2. Well the one guy gave up!

Congrats on getting through it, I'm sure it's worth it!

[seabeyond]

3. you did read epidural. hubby walked into room, i was combing hair and i said....

you want to see what a contraction looks like? wait for it, wait.... (watching the monitor as i contiue combing hair)

THERE... see. i am having a contraction.

ya. thanks for the congrats making it thru.

[Incitatus]

4. Actually, a new method has recently been tested.

A married couple went to the hospital together to have their baby delivered. Upon their arrival, the doctor said he had invented a new machine that would transfer a portion of the mother's labor pain to the father. He asked if they were willing to try it out. They were both very much in favor of it.

The doctor set the knob to 10 percent for starters, explaining that even 10 percent was probably more pain than the father had ever experienced before.

But as the labor progressed, the husband felt fine, so he asked the doctor to go ahead and bump it up a notch. The doctor then adjusted the machine to 20 percent pain transfer.

The husband was still feeling fine. The doctor checked the husband's blood pressure and pulse and was amazed at how well he was doing. At this, they decided to try for 50 percent. The husband continued to feel quite well.

Since it was obviously helping out his wife considerably, he encouraged the doctor to transfer ALL the pain to him. The wife delivered a healthy baby with virtually no pain. She and her husband were ecstatic.

When they arrived home, the mailman was dead on their porch.

[Agschmid]

6. Oh my...

The embarrassing part of this is I had to read it twice. Funny though!

[4_TN_TITANS]

5. That be a 'Oh He'll No'.

As big and strong as I am, I'd be crying for mommy after 10 mins. Hats off to the Women. (my daughters were 8lbs & 9 lbs.)

[rug]

7. Does it last longer than a kick in the nuts?

[Agschmid]

10. I believe it may...

Unless you are into something we don't know.

[MrScorpio]

8. No. nt

[undeterred]

9. Last I checked, they can't even handle sitting down to pee.

[Agschmid]

11. Awesome! N/t

[pauldemmd195j]

32. You definitely have a point there, haha.

Even the thought of peeing that way repulses me. Anyway, I highly doubt men could handle giving birth. If they could, abortion would be free for all.

[Lars39]

12. They didn't simulate simultaneous back labor

on them. And just 2 hours? Pftt.... Let 'em go 24, getting weaker and dehydrated also.

[Flashmann]

13. Could Men Handle the Agony of Childbirth?

Having watched my wife suffer through 12+ hours of labor and then being in the delivery room,til the big finale,I'm not the least bit ashamed to admit that,there is NO WAY on Earth I could handle that...

[Agschmid]

17. 12 hours! Wow! n/t

[Flashmann]

40. 12 hours! Wow!

Yeah,but just for our first.....Dunno if it's related,but he weighed in at 9 lbs,3 ozs......The next 2,girls,were 6-5 and 6-2,and showed up after just a couple of hours.which I also could not have handled....

[undeterred]

14. Actually I was talking to a female doctor about this once and she said

that men and women have evolved to handle different types of pain better.

Let's not forget the kinds of injuries that men sustain in war- wounds and traumatic amputations. (Yes, I know this happens to women sometimes too, but its been mostly men for centuries.) This doctor said that men are adapted to handle this kind off somatic pain better. Wish I could remember her explanation why but it does have to do with hormones.

[RebelOne]

15. No way. Men are already big babies when it comes to pain. n/t

[mythology]

16. If we were biologically equipped, yes we could

People manage to endure all sorts of pain for things they want.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

18. men have a far lower threshold of pain tolerance than women

[Denninmi]

19. I honestly don't know.

I handle routine pain pretty well. But, intense pain, I don't think I could take that if it's really like it seems to be from watching videos of childbirth, etc.

I have sciatica in my back, it is pretty painful when it flares up, pushes to my limits of pain tolerance at time. And it's probably nothing compared to labor.

So, I have to think women who endure it, especially natural child birth, deserve a big hand for being so courageous as to go through it.

[elleng]

25. Thanks, Den,

but its transient, comes in waves, we know it, and we expect and receive a reward. Its not like sciatica (I've had that too,) which can be worse than labor.

And going through labor the 2d time, we ask ourselves why we did this again, but we know: Survival of the species.

[War Horse]

20. Sure. But only if they get to know beforehand how painful it really is ;)

The myth that men can't endure pain stems from the very real fact that we tend to get extremely whiny when we get even remotely sick. Broken bone? Deadly disease? No big thing. The sniffles? Woe is me. We're a weird species.

[datasuspect]

21. i gave birth to a food baby once

ouch!

[benld74]

22. A large NO THANK YOU from a male I know!

[ismnotwasm]

23. If they had to

Of course they could. They don't have to.

[Agschmid]

24. Thank goodness, huh?

Though it must create so very special bond... Something I won't have.

[elleng]

27. If you're referring to a bond re: mother/child,

it depends on the individuals. Fathers I know are pretty well bonded with their children and didn't, imo, need the pain of childbirth to establish it.

[ScreamingMeemie]

26. Yes, and I can say this as a woman...Gall stones and kidney stones are far worse

than any labor pain I have ever experienced. It's time to put that myth to bed.

[elleng]

28. I think you''re right.

Having had 2 children, and gall stones without pain, I can't vouch for that, but I expect you're right.

[ScreamingMeemie]

29. The pain that came with having my children was nothing compared to the "OMG, I'm dying pain" of

stones. And, at the end of labor, we get a "prize", so to speak. At the end of gallstones we get a (at least when I had my surgery) an 8-inch lengthwise scar.

[elleng]

30. Right, prizes with labor.

I must say, mine were pretty easy, from what I hear; 3 hours in hospital both times, and first time, at moment I asked for epidural, doc said, 'Sorry, too late; heading for delivery room!' 2d time, didn't even get out of labor room: Here she comes!!! Call the doc! Husband didn't know what was going on!

Had the 'easy' gall bladder surgery 7? years ago, and no scar. Didn't even know I had stones, until family thought I looked yellow. Docs couldn't get stone out easily, I saw the scan of bladder containing a bunch of stones, and I said: Get the whole thing out! So, I was very fortunate.

[Paulie]

33. My last kidney stone I got a prize of Demerol during it

I've had it intramuscular and intravenous and the latter was so much better.

[Initech]

31. If we could give birth, there would be drive thru abortion clinics. Guaranteed.

[Moondog]

34. Are you kidding? Hell no!

[Sheldon Cooper]

35. I am friends with a guy who used to be married to a female obstetrician.

When her patients were in labor, she used to scoff at them and felt them to be pretty wimpy when they begged for relief. She divorced my friend, remarried, and then had a child of her own. The epiphany came during her difficult labor, and she never again withheld epidurals and other such relief for her laboring patients.

So, until you have gone through it, you have NO idea of the pain involved. I've birthed two kids myself, and I have no shame acknowledging the need for any drugs available, early and often.

[elleng]

36. Can't believe an obstetrician would scoff and withhold pain meds.

[Sheldon Cooper]

37. It's true.

She was pretty scornful of laboring women who would cry and beg for meds. I don't want to say she intentionally withheld them all the time, but she was skeptical of the need.

[pipi_k]

38. I had the opposite problem...

My babies (3) were all small...5 lbs 8 oz., 6 lbs 3 oz, and 4 lbs 7 oz.

I got demerol with the first one, which I really didn't even need.

Second one they tried to give me something for pain and I refused it, then was called "foolish" by a recovery room nurse who felt I should have taken it. WTF??? I didn't NEED it!!!

Third one, nothing.

Why do they try to push drugs on people who insist they don't want or need them? I mean, it's not like I was a troublesome patient or anything. I didn't complain...just followed directions, and that was that.

Had they been bigger, I might have needed something for pain, who knows...but if someone says, "I don't need pain meds", nurses/doctors shouldn't try to push drugs on them.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

39. They forgot the major abdominal surgery.

Getting sliced open from one hip to the other. I had a planned C-section.
and a spinal.

Yes, labor was very painful. Then it stopped because the baby was big (8 lbs) and I was little, and she was not going anywhere. No dropping, no dilation.

When I got a spinal I was numb from the chest down. Lots of pain during recovery. Nursing the baby brings on uterine cramps, which is quite painful. This goes on for several weeks as the uterus gets smaller.

It was worth it.

[noamnety]

41. They're missing a big part of the experience.

They still have a sense of dignity, being clothed and all.

They need to be pantsless, with the women there sticking their faces up in the genitals and groping them while they are going through that kind of pain. And random people they don't know should walk in and out of the room periodically to gape at their naked asses.

[pipi_k]

42. And let's not forget...

the enema in the middle of labor pains (second one).

And the episiotomy done before the novocaine took effect, with stitching up being done, also before the novocaine took effect.

Puerperal fever (excruciating pain!) I had after my first

Premature separation of placenta and severe bleeding with associated Clostridium infection (with my third).


Childbirth. It's a wonder women even want to go through it more than once.

[LWolf]

43. The memory fades,

or is purposely locked away, until it breaks loose just as we're checking in for the 2nd birth.

The first was 8lbs 6 oz. The second was 9lbs 2 oz. When, a few years later, there was a bit of a scare, I got the tubes tied. Forever.

[noamnety]

44. It didn't fade for me.

I think I have a little ptsd from it.

I got an IUD for a while, then tubes tied. No way I'm doing that again.

[LWolf]

45. That's the conclusion I came too.

I was so wrapped up in that first baby I didn't have the time or need to think about it, until I realized there was another on the way. I spent that 9 months in denial. 9+ lbs is a little hard to deny, though.

[DFW]

46. Hell, I could barely handle the agony of my wife's childbirth! n/t