That’s awful 
Poor girl
How many of you had no drugs? By the time I made it into the ER exam room I was at a little more than 7 cm dilated. By the time they put me in a room both the midwife and the doctor told me “no drugs for you”.
Honestly, until transition, it felt as if I had to take the world’s largest shit. Imagine how much pain you’d be in if you had to push out a 8 lb turd that refused to budge. Uncomfortable and painful yes but not screaming in agony type pain. Transition was a whole new kind of pain. It was then that I stated asking for painkillers. O.K., I’ll admit it-- begging for them.
When it comes to pushing them out. Well-- imagine that stuck 6lb turd has become unstuck. Sure it takes a lot of effort to get that fucker out but, OMG, GET OUT!
At least that’s how I remember it.
It gets worse for her. I lived in Coney Island at the time and we where in Coney Island Hospital. In June. It was hot and we all lived near the beach. Since she didn’t have any prenatal care there was no one to tell her to stay the fuck out of the water in her last trimester. She and her little boy got a bacterial infection from her romping in the ocean at Brighton Beach. Her boy came through it like a trooper. She stayed sick for a long while.
I did not want my children born in Coney Island Hospital. Coney Island is known for its amusement park and geeky side shows. It’s amazing how taking a city bus to the hospital will amend any adamant refusal to go to the nearest facility.
No drugs for me. And yes, the transition phase was the most difficult for me. Many people forget that until near the end you are comfortable the majority of the time, between contractions.
My contractions were 90 seconds long every two minutes starting when I was only two centimeters dilated. My daughter (who was face-up) got stuck about three hours later when I was at eight centimeters. I had contractions against a stuck baby for about an hour, hour and a half before they got the epidural in me.
So I haven’t felt crowning, but I sure know what unmedicated transition is like.
I didn’t scream with my first, but I had a little “just to take the edge off” IV drugs.
Second baby was medication-free (not by choice, I can assure you) and I delivered an 11 lb 4 oz baby with a side of shoulder distocia. I screamed like no tomorrow and nothing short of general anesthesia could’ve shut me up.
My next two babies: I warned my doctors numerous times that they’d best be ready with the epidural…they did, and I was happy and quiet the whole time.
Wow I can’t believe how many women are saying they did not scream! I was a screamer, baby! My labor was advancing very quickly - 2 hours from the start of hard labor until my daughter was born - but by the time I was at the hospital and almost fully dilated, it hurt like hell and I was ascreaming for a bit.
The the head nurse came over and took control and talked me into holding my breath and starting to push (yeah, all those Lamaze classes just flew out the window when the rubber hit the road).
Things went so quickly that there was no time for pain meds - so all natural and quite the ride.
When I had my first child, I told the doctor I didn’t want an epidural, since I had heard horror stories about things going wrong with them. This lasted until transition, when I decided that an epidural would actually be a good idea. Unfortunately, by then it was too late and they refused. They gave me Demerol, which didn’t do anything for the pain and just made me go to sleep between contractions and led to three hours of pushing. I didn’t scream, though, just some grunting and moaning.
The second child was induced with pitocin, and I did not want to go through that Demerol thing again, so I refused all pain medications. I ended up giving birth unmedicated with a forceps delivery. Not fun, but still no screaming. I’m just not the screaming type.
My third (and final) delivery was unmedicated, partially because I thought I’d like to try an unmedicated delivery but mostly because I misjudged how far along active labor was, and I showed up at the hospital about 30 minutes prior to delivering the baby.
Transition was pretty tough, and definitely very painful, but I would say that it was manageable, in that at no time did I feel like I would rather die than continue to experience this, or that I was incapable of handling it or whatever. Transition was definitely much more painful than pushing. Pushing was mostly just a strong sensation of wanting to get the baby out. Still painful but not as bad as transition was.
I did think that the recovery from birth 3 was a lot easier than either of my other ones. Whether that’s due to less medication/intervention or just because I was more experienced by that point, I don’t know.
With both of my children I suffered severe back labor (makes it impossible to feel contractions). And both doctors pulled the fast one and wouldn’t let me have an epidural (“oh no dear, it’s too soon, WHOOPS too late”), so no drugs except a quick shot of something about an hour before I had my daughter.
With my son there were lots of complications and they had me on pitocin (cranks up the pain meter about 9k, at least comparing it to the birth of my daughter and the pains prior to them starting it), and the nurses kept saying “okay you’re having a contraction, time to push” and I got all cranky and said “well it’s nice YOU can tell that, if I wasn’t in such agony in my back maybe I could tell too”!
There were some definite moments of whining and a few tears, but no screaming.
When my water broke with my son his head was already so far down the birth canal there was only a tiny trickle. Apparently we were supposed to warn the doctor about that as when his head slipped out she got a wave of amniotic fluid in the face.
So if there’s only a little fluid when your water breaks, be a sport and give your OB a warning 
No epidural (not invented yet :D) and no screaming. Like others have described, I just wanted that baby out safely, and I was intent on that goal. I was very much inner-focused, and had to make a real effort to communicate with the nurses and my mom. I do remember vividly laying on my side and gripping the bars of the bed thingy so hard I swear I was crushing them.
While I was in the labor room I could hear a woman in the adjoining room screaming her head off. I remember wondering if I was going to tune up like that when the party really got started, but I stayed pretty quiet. Except for clearly and somewhat loudly saying “HOLY FUCK!” during the episiotomy incision.
Congratulations Glory! Way to go!
My wife gave birth to three large babies, all right around 9 pounds. She is not tiny at 5’7" and 120 pounds, but she’s not huge either.
All three births were accomplished without drugs, except novocain for the episiotomy cut in two cases. We were well trained in Lamaze and though she let out some gasps and groans, there was no screaming in any case. The three labors all took different courses, but all ended with a happy result.
I strongly recommend Lamaze. Even if the labor eventually ends in a C-section, the process will be less exhausting and more relaxed with Lamaze than without.
My older brother was an Army baby, and back in the late 50s, the procedure was “knock 'er out and remove the baby”. She swore her next babies would be a different experience. My older sister, me and my younger sister were all delivered by an Osteopath, Dr. Pickering, who worked with her during her pregnancies and delivered us. She had no drugs, only hypnosis. She told us he implanted a post-hypnotic suggestion that she would feel no pain, and that it would be “a beautiful experience”. She insisted till she died that she felt no pain in spite of having no drugs for any of the three of us.
We are the only people I’ve ever met who were delivered with the mother being hypnotized.
Hypno-birthing is a big thing these days in some circles. It was a little too woo for me, but some people swear by it. Whatever works, I say.
Interesting, though the current version seems more self-hypnosis and less like my mom’s experience of working with a therapist all through her pregnancies.
Self hypnosis was part of my midwife’s birthing plan for me. It helped during the early stages but I lost focus once things got more intense. I have nothing but admiration for anyone who relies on that as their sole pain relief.
I screamed. Oh my lord I screamed. I was even fussed at by a nurse for scaring other patients. I kept hollering, “There’s something wrong!” and there kind of was. My daughter was facing the wrong direction, but I don’t know if that’s why I was in such incredible pain, or the simple fact that a seven pound baby was coming through my cervix. And I panicked when they brought out the needles, because despite the pain I was still phobic. So I screamed some more. I guess I wasn’t a pleasant patient to deal with at all until they gave me my epidural, then I was all business.
I screamed all the way through my daughter’s delivery.
Irritated the hell out of my wife, let me tell ya.
On yes, I did. The wife just would not shut up ‘My back hurts, I’m hot, I’m in great pain, me, me, me, blah, blah, blah’. That private room cost a lot of money and had one of the first big-screen TVs and it was showing the football. I was trying to watch it, but she just kept banging on in the background…
Then when I had to bend over and ‘Hold her hand’ she nearly broke it off! - but did I get any sympathy? Not on your life.