Labor and delivery curiosity!

[anyakitty.livejournal.com]

Okay, I have always been SO curious about the nitty gritty details of labor and delivery. I am fascinated by those shows that come on TLC sometimes depicting natural and home births. I don't ever plan on having children but I just simply must know:

1. Is it really as bad as it is in the movies? Do people really scream/go crazy from the pain? Can you compare contractions to menstrual cramps to give me an idea of how much worse they are?

2. This is the big one... do a lot of women tear? How does THAT feel? Do they stitch you up or do you have to just let it heal or does it just simply depend?

3. After you give birth vaginally, is your vagina really never the same ever again? Is this only a physical, inside thing but also a visual, outside thing?

Please, don't spare me any details, I want it all no matter how questionable. It's either this or asking my boyfriend's sister who is pregnant for the second time and I'd rather not, haha. Thanks in advance!

Comments

[hiriel1804.livejournal.com]

"I only found about the tearing thing probably about 3 or 4 years ago when I was like 21 and it has since TERRIFIED me"
Count yourself lucky. :P
We got to see it in a birthing video in sex ed at age 14. Best way to scare kids into abstaining, ever (that wasn't the intent, but really!). That video is shown in a lot of schools in Norway, and is partially blamed why so many young women today are terrified of giving birth, and ask for c-sections they don't need.
The maker of the video was in the papers last year, and said that, well, we know it's scary, but we never intended for 14-year-olds to see it. The video is a nitty-gritty, all details included video for parents-to-be. It's not for the faint of heart and/or scared teenagers ;p