# Did Your Parents Videotape Your Birth? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 28, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524 "2004-05-28T15:35:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/21 "2004-05-29T04:48:13Z")
Heh, **Kyla** , My dad’s a pediatrician. He was in the delivery room when my sister-in-law gave birth to my niece by c-section. He took photos as soon as the baby entered the world, white goopy stuff and all. My sister was the OB. We’re a weird family. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/22 "2004-05-29T05:33:23Z")
My father didn’t videotape mine. He did paint some pictures of my birth on the cave wall, though. (1951 - long before videocameras.) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/23 "2004-05-29T05:59:13Z")
Same here, Voyager. My parents couldn’t afford a camcorder so they hired a sketch artist. He kept walking around framing his shot by making his fingers into a box and freakin’ Mommy out. Damn thing looks like something by Georgia O’Keeffe. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/24 "2004-05-29T06:13:19Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > This is one thing that makes me glad I was born in the late 1950s. Preach it. There are many things I _don’t_ want imprinted on my brain, and this one is high on this list. “This is wonderful little me entering the world. HI MOM!” ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/25 "2004-05-29T07:30:12Z")
No. And I’m glad it wasn’t. For those of you who do have a tape of it: Try seeing if you can play it backwards! ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/26 "2004-05-29T12:54:41Z")
Not exactly video taped, but my birth was recorded. Someone dropped and broke the clay tablets, though. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/27 "2004-05-29T13:16:07Z")
I was born in 1969, and my dad had a Super 8 home movie camera. It might have occured to him to film the happy event… if he had been allowed into the delivery room! Wasn’t exactly common back in the Upper Pleistocene, you know. Of course, according to family legend, I was born so fast my dad didn’t even get a chance to have a cigarette in the waiting room. He was paged at work, and by the time he walked the mile or so to the hospital, Mom and I were already in the recovery ward. Neither of my two kids’ births have been videotaped, and I like it that way, oookay? ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/28 "2004-05-29T16:54:45Z")
No video tapes. I’m a little older than that, but I am told there are some very good cave painting of my birth in France. TV ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/29 "2004-05-30T01:07:31Z")
Mine wasn’t, but my second cousin’s was, and we all sat down to watch it ages ago. Keep in mind this was back when I didn’t know quite how a baby came out of the mom, so the gory truth was rather disturbing :eek: I was an ugly-ass baby anyway ☹ I’m surprised my mom has so many pictures of me. My face looked like a goddamn prune. Frankly after 23 years I don’t think much has improved ☹ ---
**Author:** ![IKinSpelGud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/46a35a/32.png) [@IKinSpelGud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IKinSpelGud)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/30 "2004-05-30T01:36:01Z")
I was born in 1985 and my parents have never owned a video camera, so, no. And, might I add, **ew.** ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/31 "2004-05-30T01:41:52Z")
To quote my dear daughter **whiterabbit** : > [@](#): > > By the time my brother was born this would have been possible, I’m pretty sure (1984) but I don’t want to think about the fury that would have been unleashed if anybody had walked into the room when my mom was giving birth to either of us…well, actually, I find the thought highly entertaining. > > It’d have been a good thing she was in a hospital, because whoever brought said camera would have been quickly admitted after she finished with them! Actually, that’s not really the case. When she was born, of course, we didn’t have camcorders yet, and fathers weren’t allowed in the delivery room in any case. When her brother was born eight years later, fathers were allowed but nobody else. None of this big happy family watching the miracle of birth crap. Not when _I_ was the one doing all the work! But I suspect if someone had showed up with a camera, I probably would have neither noticed nor cared. When Young Tiger was born, I got stuck at 9-1/2 centimeters for two freaking hours and had to try to NOT push, so I was so wacked out from hyperventilating that all I wanted was to GET HIM OUT OF ME! Of course, if someone HAD taken a video and tried to show it later in my presence… ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/32 "2004-05-30T01:43:22Z")
Yeah, 1969…my dad wasn’t even in the delivery room. I think it was just my mom and the nurses and doctor. I never wanted to have my son’s birth taped. I also made my husband promise not birth pictures. As it turns out all hell broke loose and I ended up having an emergency c-section (under general aenesthesia, to make things worse), it was so awful, I can’t imagine having it on tape. Not that anyone was allowed into the operating room to be there to tape it anyway. I jsut don’t understand the whole trend of taping/photographing births. When I was 12 I was looking at a photo album at my Pastors house. His wife and my mom were really good friends. I turned a page only to come face to face with her son’s head sticking out from between her legs…I think I’m still scarred. ---
**Author:** ![ReBusEniGma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@ReBusEniGma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReBusEniGma)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/33 "2004-05-30T04:49:03Z")
Fascinating. Dad has always been a camera/film buff. He had an 8mm video camera when I was very young, but I’ve certainly never seen any videos of any of our births. Mom has always been extremely modest, so I doubt she would have allowed it. But that did get me to thinking, I’ve never even asked him if he was even in the delivery room when we were born. I was a 1966 California baby, so I have my doubts, but now I’m curious. We videotaped only one of our children…it’s remained in a box, neither of us have ever watched it except for the once. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/34 "2004-05-30T13:59:06Z")
Heh. 1964, Mount Sinai Hospital, Manhattan. Dad was lucky he was allowed in the _building_! Just kidding, he was allowed in the labor room, but as soon as Mom was wheeled into the delivery room he was shoved off into the waiting room just like the Bee Hospital sketch on the old SNL, except without Bees. “Congratulations, Mr. C., it’s a worker!” I don’t think it would have occured to anybody concerned to bring a camera, even when my littlest bro was born in 1970. However, Mt. Sinai did take black and white portraits of new babies, a little blurry (the pix, although probably we babies were pretty blurry too). They’re actually quite beautiful in a way. Me, twenty minutes old and pretty damn confused but happy to be out. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/35 "2004-05-30T14:07:56Z")
> [@Mama Tiger](#): > > To quote my dear daughter **whiterabbit** : > > Actually, that’s not really the case. When she was born, of course, we didn’t have camcorders yet, and fathers weren’t allowed in the delivery room in any case. When her brother was born eight years later, fathers were allowed but nobody else. None of this big happy family watching the miracle of birth crap. Not when _I_ was the one doing all the work! > > But I suspect if someone had showed up with a camera, I probably would have neither noticed nor cared. When Young Tiger was born, I got stuck at 9-1/2 centimeters for two freaking hours and had to try to NOT push, so I was so wacked out from hyperventilating that all I wanted was to GET HIM OUT OF ME! > > Of course, if someone HAD taken a video and tried to show it later in my presence… Oh. I thought there would be some serious ass kicking going on. I guess you should take as a compliment that I thought so! I am perfectly happy to not have been involved in my brother’s birth, meeting him later that same morning was just fine by me. _shudder_ Maybe I got you mixed up with Christina, I think she was threatening bodily harm if anybody besides her husband even came in the room, let alone had a camera. She didn’t even really want the medical staff in there! Not everybody under, oh, 30 wants a crowd of people at the birth of their baby. ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/36 "2004-05-30T14:44:58Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > **Lobelia Overhill** , don’t feel bad. When the younger of my two brothers-in-law was born, they didn’t take a picture of him until he started school. He looked so much like his brother at the time, that the parents just recycled pictures of the older one and passed them off as the younger one. I think my parents did that to me … (I should have said in my first post _another_ son - I have two older brothers out of who’s arses the sun rises and sets. Me, I’m just an arse) More issues than National Geographic … ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/37 "2004-05-30T16:48:39Z")
Thankfully my parents didn’t get their 8mm until I was 1.5 years old, so my first appearance on tape is me dragging the case around the livingroom while bored at Christmas. My brother, on the other hand… I’ve seen his birth on tape _and_ in person. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/38 "2004-05-30T17:08:18Z")
Mine was, but I was born via Caesarian Section so there isn’t a whole lot going on in the video. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524/39 "2004-05-31T00:39:26Z")
Mine certainly wasn’t, back in 1960, but there is videographic record of the births of both of my kids. Of course, we’re crunchy granola weirdos who had home waterbirths, so all of the “action” (as it were) happened underwater and out of the range of the camera. And the parts of me that weren’t submerged were modestly attired in quite lovely bathing suit type items. I’d even be okay with showing the videos at parties, but I haven’t. (Not that anyone would want to watch, just sayin’.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-videotape-your-birth/247524.md?page=1)