Two Mom Podcasters Share That They Absolutely Don’t Want To Hear Your Birth Story
“Everybody has one and nobody wants to hear about anybody else’s, but people have forgotten that.”
Do you ever have a really weird, vivid dream, and you cannot wait to tell someone about it until you realize that literally no one on the planet cares about your dream except you?
The hosts from the I’ve Had It podcast feel this exact way about your birth story. They don’t care. They don’t want to hear how long you labored or if you had a third-degree tear. Also, they think you’re a narcissist if you’re an expectant mother who wants some attention and love during a baby shower, I guess.
In a clip from their podcast posted to TikTok, the two moms rant about people who share their labor and delivery stories, noting that they don’t care, and people should stop sharing them.
“Labor and delivery stories,” Jennifer Welch began.
Her co-host, Angie “Pumps” Sullivan replied, “Because everybody has one and nobody wants to hear about anybody else’s, but people have forgotten that.”
“You know where these are ubiquitous? At baby showers ... Everybody’s talking about episiotomies. They’re talking about vaginal birth. They’re talking about epidurals. They’re talking about C-sections. They’re talking about all of [these] things that I don’t really particularly like thinking about, which is why I didn’t go to medical school or to nursing school,” Welch said.
“I don’t particularly like this subject matter, but at a baby shower, that’s all anybody talks about.”
Sullivan responded, “Well, I just think there is something uniquely narcissistic about brides and expectant mothers, like, they honestly think, ‘I’m the first person in the history of the world to have a baby. I’m the only one.’’’
I know — it’s a lot. Is it all for shock value? Maybe! Regardless, after the clip of the two going back and forth about how much they hate hearing other people’s birth stories went viral, the rest of the internet had some thoughts for the pair.
“Just when you thought the bro podcasts were the worst, in walk the mother-in-laws,” one user wrote.
Another said, “I think women don’t talk enough about birth and motherhood.”
One noted, “As a mom of two... I love hearing other women’s birth stories and sharing in other joy! Y’all are so bitter 🤦🏽♀️”
“I think more people should talk about their labor and delivery story. It’s scary and people don’t have enough info, IMO,” one user pointed out.
I remember laying on the table, prepping for my C-section after a 35-hour labor that got no further than 3 cm dilated, and shaking uncontrollably. I seriously could not stop my body from tremoring, and I was very scared. (Did I just tell some of my birth story?! WHOOPS!)
The nurses and anesthesiologist assured me that the shakes were totally normal and so many people experience the same thing when they’re in labor.
I remember thinking to myself, “Why did no one tell me this happens?”
In that moment, I wished so badly that I’d heard other people’s birth stories, to help myself feel a little more prepared or at least privy to what could happen during my own experience. Plus, sharing those kinds of emotional, magical, warrior-making, at times, traumatic experiences helps bring community and connection. Something that we need now more than ever.
This entire take feels a bit regressive and coated in a heavy layer of internalized misogyny. If you can’t talk about being a mom and giving birth at a baby shower, then where the hell are we supposed to talk about it?
