Just a couple of pictures and thoughts. Any other ideas and thoughts? Why not post them in the forum?



Yes, this is the right position for birth. Legs in the stirrups, strapped, so she cannot move, no matter how much it hurts. Legs spread apart, so you can see the birth opening very well.

Arms tied securely to the table. The doctor knows: When the birth starts, it hurts so much that the women wriggle around, try to get off the birthing table. But the doctor needs to work and he can't have the woman move around and disturb him.

See, this woman is not even opened yet, the birth has just begun. But look at her face, the pain is already very big. Does she know that it will hurt even more when the pushing starts, when the baby is moving down, tearing her apart when the head comes out?

The doctor just gets ready for another exam. See how big his hands are? The woman complaints, but he ignores her. The exams hurt, but he doesn't care. Soon he will put on his gloves, move his hands nearer and nearer her vagina. She already looks terrified. She knows what it feels like when the doctor thrusts his hands inside her, feeling and probing. But she can't get away. She needs to lie on the birthing table now, stand the pain and birth her baby.





This woman is farther along. She, too, can't stand the pain. Her hands moves down, trying to protect her vagina. "Ooooh, this burns!" she moans. "I can't push it out! It is too big!! Oooowww, it hurts!!! AAAAHHH!" The doctor is just putting on his gloves. He knows that there is no way back. No matter how much it hurts, no matter if she will tear, she has to push her baby out now. He puts on his gloves, and then he will step between her legs, force her hand away. "Push it out!" he will say. "Noooo!" the woman will answer, terrified about the feeling when the head comes through. But there is no way back, and she will scream even louder when the starts to pulls the baby out.

Oh, how this woman is screaming! "It's not possible!" she screams. "He doesn't come out! He is too big!" The babies head is born, it is tearing her apart. Her vagina burns and is stretched to the maximum. Maybe even more than maximum, maybe it is already torn. Or maybe the doctor cut her? Or maybe she was lucky - but then the shoulders come out, stretch her even more. And while she is screaming louder and louder, they tear her. Or maybe the doctor has just gone away. Maybe he has seen that the baby is too big, and he is fetching the scissors. "Don't push!" he told her. Then he steps again between her legs. Positions the scissors, and cuts her. What does it feel like when the baby is coming out? The opening is too small, but the birthing woman has to push the baby out. It hurts, she screams in agony. Many woman scream: "It is too big!" But the doctor knows no mercy. He knows that a birth is pain and agony. And so he just says: "Push! PUSH HARDER!" He is used to hear women scream. And if the baby is really big - well, then it hurts more, but she HAS to push it out. See her hands? They cramp in agony...

Imagine you're a woman about to give birth. The midwife has just led you to the delivery room. Now you are standing there, in front of the birthing chair. "Get up there, put your feet in the stirrups" the midwife has just said.

You're shivering. The contractions are getting stronger, but you don't want to lie on the birthing chair. "Why can I not birth in the other room?" you ask, thinking of the labour room with a comfortable bed.

"No, we need you in the stirrups" the midwife answers.

You hesitate. You don't want to lie there, legs spread apart, doctors and midwifes looking right into the birth opening. Not able to move when the pain hits you. Helpless, doctors manipulating you.

The midwife pushes you toward the delivery chair. "Get on there now" she says. Carefully you sit on it, right on the edge. The doctor comes in. You put your legs together, you don't want him to put his fingers inside you again. "Feet in the stirrups!" you heare.

Reluctant you lie back, let the midwife put your legs in the stirrups. You try to press your legs together, but it's no use. The midwife opens the stirrups even more, spreading you wider and wider.

You know that soon you will be lying on this birthing chair, panting, sweating, screaming. You heard the other women in the other delivery rooms, yelling loud while they were pushing there babys out. You know it will hurt a lot. You know, you too will be screaming soon.

So how would you feel when you stand before this birthing chair and the midwife has just told you: "Sit down here, put your feet in the stirrups and get ready for birth"?







"OOOUUUUUCHHHH!" Can you imagine how much this woman screams? The doctor has seen that her baby is very big. "I have to open you more!" he told her. The birth helpers are holding her down on the birthing table, while the doctor is pulling her open. "The opening must be bigger!" he says while he is working. The woman is screaming loud, the pain is so big. "OOOOOOOOHHHHH! AAAAAHHHHHHH! NOOOOOOOO!" "Scream as much as you want!" the doctor says. "But I need to do this!" Again his fingers go inside her, and again he pulls...

Some typical sentences you could hear in the delivery room. The midwife knows that many women have no idea how much a birth hurts. "They think they go to the hospital, pant and breathe a little bit, and then the baby comes out" some midwifes know. "But then, when they lie on the delivery table, the contractions get stronger... They are surprised. 'It hurts so much!' they say. And I know - I will hurt much much more when they start pushing, when the baby is moving down, tearing her open with the head, and then the shoulders come, and it hurts even more. Often when I see the birthing women I think: Next time you'll use condoms, don't you?" "Many woman talk about how much fun giving birth is, they want to birth naturally, at home or something." another midwife says. "But then they are lying in front of me on the birthing chair, and they curse and yell, like all womens in a delivery room! And then they know that a birth is pain and that it hurts." "Yes, it feels like you shit a watermelon" a third midwife says. "See how big the baby is? You know how small a cervix is. Can you imagine how much it hurts when it opens far enough to let the head through? And then the baby comes down all the way trough the birth canal. Opening the vagina. The skin stretches and burns, often it tears, or we cut it. See here on this picture the midwife has to open the woman even more. The woman is pushes with all her might, but the head is so big the midwife has to pull her open. Yes, it feels like shitting a watermelon... Ouch!"

This too is a typical scene. See how the woman is moving on the birthing bed? "Make it stop! I want to go away!" she screams. "It hurts! I don't want to do this!" But like all women giving birth she has to go through it. "She doesn't know" the nurse to the right thinks. "The head isn't even out yet. She thinks the pain cannot get more, but soon, when the head is tearing her open, she screams even louder. All women do!" The midwife just doesn't listen to the women. "All women want to run away when they are on the birthing bed" she says. "Often we have to hold them down or strap them or they would jump off the table. This one is lucky, she is not even in the stirrups!" But in a few minutes this women will feel much less lucky. The midwife is already pulling, soon she will pull the big head out. The woman's vagina will burn and stretch. Maybe the nurse has already the scissors ready, so the midwife can cut her. Her husband already looks terrified. What will he think when his wife shrieks even louder because it feels like she is tearing apart? Or when she feels the scissors cutting her open?

And the same thing again. The woman screams, it hurts so much! "OOOOOWWWWW! she yells. But here, too, the head isn't even out... The husband thinks she can't scream louder, but soon he will hear that she CAN!! And see the doctors hand. He has just said: "Well, the baby is very big. You can't push it out, I have to open you manually." She lies there, and she sees his hand coming nearer. Soon she will feel how he forces a finger inside her, then another finger, and then he will pull and stretch her open while she is pushing hard. And she WILL be screaming even louder...





Oh, how women hate to see this! They lie on the birthing table, and then the doctor comes in. In scrubs, hands in gloves, ready to help her giving birth.

They know the doctor will not be gentle. He will thrust his fingers inside her, or even his whole hand, if necessary. No matter how much they protest, the doctor will work between her legs and do what he thinks is necessary.

"Nurse, pull her legs further apart!" he might say. Or ask the nurses to bring even bigger and dangerous looking instruments.

"Stop screaming!" he might say. "This is necessary!"

A doctor will say sentences all birthing women hate: "Oh, this baby is really big, this will be a difficult birth!" Or: "I need to rotate the baby, nurse, strap her!" or: "I will have to help you with my hands to give birth, this wil not be easy!"

So what does a woman think, lying there on the birthing table, when the doctor comes in? She know he will now step between her legs, adjust the lamp so it shines directly on her birth opening, and his hands will come nearer and nearer... Soon she will hear all the sentences she hates...







This is the view from the birthing woman. She is lying on the delivery table. Lamps are shining between her legs. A nurse and a birth helper are standing beside her, telling her to breathe. The midwife is between her legs. "A few more minutes, then the doctor will come in and you can start pushing" she says.

What does it feel like lying there like this? Soon more people will be in the delivery room, all looking between her wide spread legs. She can't move, although she wishes she could jump off the birthing table and go home. Doctors, nurses, midwifes, all are examining her, telling her to breathe, to push, touching her, putting fingers inside her. She is lying their, helpless, she needs to do what they say.







A typical exam during birth. Do you see, there are three hands on the picture! That's right. Often for the exams, and for the birth too, two or more doctors are needed. The doctor who examins the woman needs another doctor, or a birth helper, to hold her open.

See how much strength the doctor needs to pull the women open! The opening needs to be big enough for the birth doctor to work. He needs to see inside her, he needs to put instruments inside her. So even when it hurts when they pull her open they have to do it. And they know, when the birth goes on, her vagina will have to open much much more! So compared with that the pain during the exams is still nothing....

What does the woman feel? She is opened wide, and she knows that all the doctors, and maybe the nurses and other birth helpers, are looking between her legs, are looking inside her vagina. She feels helpless, and she knows, even when she screams, the doctors will not stop doing what they need to do...









Yes! Here you can see how much a birth hurts! The woman is screaming and screaming, she is getting louder and louder. "Never again!" she thinks. "I never knew how much a birth could hurt!" Yes, that's what all woman experience when they are lying on the birthing table... Here you can hear how it sounds when a woman gives birth...

This woman will now start pushing. "Open your legs more!" the midwife says.

Her husband is already helping her to put her legs in the stirrups. "No, I don't want that!" the woman protests.

"We need your legs in the stirrups!" the midwife is firm. "We need to spread you wide!"

On the womans face you can see how hard work a birth is. And she is just starting to push! Soon her screams and wails will fill the delivery room...









Some faces of women giving birth:

The woman is relaxing between contractions. But oh, she feels the next contraction coming... "No, not yet, not another one..." she thinks. But she knows, she feels it, the contraction is coming... its getting stronger...

... and ooohhh, there it is, getting still stronger... AAAAHHH! She gasps. This one was strong. Ooooohhhhhh! She tries to breathe... She knows she has to do this for many hours.....

"Oh, no, not another one... no, no, I need a break..." - "AaaaahhhhHHH! OUUUUU! This one hurts!!!" - "Phhhooo, phhhooo... Oh, can someone make this stop?"

"Nooo, no, no more... I can't do this no more... Oh, pull this baby out, make it stop, it hurts! AAAAAUUUUUUUU!!!!!!"

Oh, what might this feel like? The head is nearly out, see how much the woman is spread apart? And then it is necessary to wait, she can't push. So she is lying there, her vagina stretched so much it burns like fire. And the doctor says: "Don't push! No, DON'T PUSH!" Maybe he even puts his hand on the head to push it back, or to keep the woman from pushing it out. It burns, it stretches her, she feels she is tearing. But she has to wait for the perineum to stretch. Only for a short time, but it feels like hours. It hurts so much! "Pull it out!!!" she screams. "Just pull it out! I can't stand this no more!! OOOOOOWWWW!!!!" - "No, wait... breathe, pant, and wait..." the doctor says while she is screaming again: "I want it out!! OOOOOOOOHHH!! AAAAARRRRHHHH! PULL IT OUT!!!!" Or maybe she is terrified about the head coming out. Maybe she knows it will hurt like hell. Maybe she doesn't want to push, she knows when she pushes the head will come out, and the pain will be unbearable. She wishes the doctor could push the baby back in, she never wants to push it out. "Make this stop!" she cries and stops pushing. "PUSH! PUSH NOW! is the doctors answer.

"NOOOO! I don't want this!"

"Yes, you have to! NOW PUSHHHH!!"

Here the head is born. A short while ago a very loud scream sounded in the delivery room when the woman thought she would tear apart. Now she is relieved. The head is out, the worst part is over, she thinks. But the doctor knows better. "Push!" he says. "Push harder!" He knows it will hurt even more when the shoulders come out... "Come on, push! PUSHHHH!!!" he yells at her. He helps her as much as he can, pulling with his hands. He knows it is very difficult and painful to birth the shoulders. He knows another very loud scream will soon be heard in the delivery room...

This woman has nearly made it. The two worst parts are over: The head and the shoulders are born. But now, the body is still stretching her apart. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" she yells. "Pull it out!!! OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!" The doctor is doing his best do birth the baby. Maybe he still has to rotate him, hurt the woman even more. He ignores her screams, he just concentrates on his work, no matter how much he has to hurt her. Maybe the woman saw a birth on TV, or heard about births where the head and the shoulders came out and then the rest just slid out easily. But the doctor knows: Only very few woman are that lucky. Often it takes a lot of time until also the rest is born. For the woman it seems like ages when the head, and then the shoulders, are stretching her, her vagina burns, she tears. And still it is not over. Still she is lying there, spread apart, her vagina stretched to the maximum. She screams, she yells, birth helpers are holding her down on the birthing table. Slowly the doctor pulls, takes his time, although he knows how much it hurts. "I want it out!!" the woman screams again. "OOOHHHHH!!! OOOOOOOOWWW!!" She can't push anymore, she is exhausted. But the doctor orders: "Push!!! PUSHHHHH!!!" But she just wants him to pull it out. "PUSH! COME ON, PUSH!" the doctor yells again.

The same situation in a home birth. This woman thought at home it might be easier. Not a technical delivery room full of doctors, a hard birthing table with stirrups. She wanted to birth at home, in her comfortable living room. But she too now knows that a birth means pain, a lot of pain. She too experienced the feeling when the head came through, when it tore her. The midwife rotating the baby, a feeling as if everything inside her was turned around. Then the shoulders, stretching her even more. And how long it takes until the baby is finally born! The pushes as hard as she can, and the midwife is pushing so hard the husband has to hold her, or she would be pulled off the sofa! Maybe in a hospital, on a birthing bed, it would have been easier, she thinks inbetween screams.

A birth on a birthing chair. Here, too you can see that the midwife pulled so hard the woman nearly fell off the chair. The husband has to hold her, while she is pushing and screaming. "I told you, I wanted you to be on the birthing table!" the midwife says.

This is what the midwife had in mind. "When a woman gives birth, I want her lying on her back, legs in the holders. So I can work properly" she says. "Like this! This woman is in the correct position, and I can do all the exams I want. See, how much it hurts? See her face grimacing? And see her foot - she is already starting to wriggle around, soon she will take her legs out of the stirrups, will not want me to examine her again. Then maybe we have to strap her. Imagine how much it hurts when she starts pushing..."









What does it feel like, lying on your back, feet in stirrups, under the light in the delivery room? Knowing the light will show everything when your legs are spread apart, the bright lamp shining directly on your birth opening.

The doctor standing between your thighs, looking, examining, feeling. Midwifes coming in, checking you. Nurses and birth helpers looking into your vagina all the time. Not being able to move, you wish you could run away. Be everywhere else, but not here, in this delivery room. You hear another women screaming next door. You know soon you will be screaming too. You can't go away, you can't hide. You lie on the birthing table, the lamp above you, shining between your legs, showing all.

Again the doctor comes in. Puts on his gloves, and adjusts the lamp. You know, now he will force his fingers inside you again, hurt you, finger around inside you. You hate the lamp, but each time you look up you see it.

Maybe the doctor has another light, a small torch. He will open you with one hand, with the other hand he will shine the torch inside your birth opening. You feel embarrassed, you want him to stop. You don'T want him to look inside you!

Then he adjusts the big light once again. A second doctor came in, and he too needs to see well. You wish you could run away...

But maybe when you start pushing, when your screams echo loud through the birthing room, you will not care how many people look between your legs, how many people hear you pant and scream. The pain will be so big, you will forgot about all the lamps hanging from the ceiling in the delivery room....







Here you see a team of three midwifes waiting in the delivery room. A nurse is just leading the birthing woman into the birthing room. What will that woman think? The midwifes are smiling. Looks like they think a birth is fun! They know that the woman will scream a lot. She will wriggle on the birthing table, face grimacing in pain, begging that the midwifes let her go home. They know that a birth means pain, lots of pain, and they are used to it. Maybe the birthing woman is angry when she sees them smiling. "This hurts, why do they smile?" she thinks. Maybe she thinks: "They like seeing me wriggling in pain, they like it when it hurts so much that I scream!" Or maybe the woman does not know how much a birth hurts. She sees the smiling midwifes, and thinks: "These midwifes will help me, and soon it will be over!" But within the next hours, this woman, too, will realize that a birth takes very long, gets more painful and more painful all the time. She too will soon be lying on the delivery table, yelling in pain!

A typical situation in a delivery room. The woman is on the birthing table, legs in the stirrups, spread apart. The birthing doctor is standing between her legs. Looks like he is talking to a nurse. Maybe he is asking for an instrument? A second doctor prepares, puts on his gloves. So this might be a difficult birth. Maybe the doctor asked for the forceps? Or the vacuum extractor? Or maybe he wants to do a difficult exam, and he needs his colleague to help him. The woman on the delivery table - does she know what is going on? Did she understand what the doctor said? Maybe the doctors don't want her to know, because they do not want to terrify her. See how long the doctors gloves are? Either they are examining her very deeply, or the birth will be happening soon. How many more people are in the delivery room? Maybe some birth helpers need to hold the woman down on the table? Maybe the doctors asked her husband to go out, they don't want that he hears all her screams and sees how much she is in pain. But when he is standing outside the door, he hears how loud her screams are in the birthing room...

What might a woman think who is coming into the delivery ward, opening the door to the corridor? She has heard terrifying stories about births, her friends have told her what it was like when they were lying in the delivery rooms.

Now a nurse is leading her through the door, into the corridor. Some delivery room doors are closed, some are open. She hears women screaming, breaathing, crying, yelling, panting. Hears doctors shouting orders.

Does she know what awaits her inside the delivery room? If not, the screams of the other women will sure tell her. maybe she turn around, wants to go home. But firmly the nurse holds her shoulder, leads her to the door of a birthing room. Theres no way back. No matter how much it hurts, how painful the birth is, she has to do it now.

The woman is terrified. "Will I scream like that too?" she asks the nurse.

"Maybe not" the nurse says, but she knows that she is lying. All women scream when they give birth. But why should she terrify the woman? She will experience that soon enough, when she, too, is lying on the birthing table, the doctor between her legs, telling her: "PUSH! Come on, PUSH! PUSH HARDER!! PUSH!"

Here is what it sound like on this corridor: