First, I have to admit that my own modesty has me completely flabbergasted that folks film the procedure to begin with, but tons and tons and tons do, so I know I’m probably in the minority.
So, here’s my completely sincere question…why? Do partners watch it together from time to time? Is there an intent to give it to the child being born?
Probably the same thing that wedding albums are used for, which is looking at maybe once and then putting away in a drawer somewhere.
Actually, I knew one couple who had us sit through their birth video and one couple who kept their wedding album out all the time. They are both divorced now.
No videos here. No cameras at all until mommy has had a nap and a shower and a clean gown.
No kidding. I bet a quick Google search would turn up a whole slew of fetish sites where you can watch little Johnny/Mary gettin’ squeezed out while BOOM-CHICKA-BOW-WOW plays in the background and the OB/GYN bears a strange resemblance to Ron Jeremy.
In my husband’s family, they’re for embarrassing and/or making your brother and sister-in-law nauseated at family gatherings. Really, it’s not unusual to hear, “Ooh, let’s watch little Johnny’s birth video!” Followed by us high-tailing it to the basement, and them calling after us, “But, it’s done very tastefully.” Not to us, it’s not!
Only one of my births made it to video - the other two came too darn fast - no time for “smile for the camera”. I used my video for a while as birth control - I was 17 when I had my prince. Now I use it as birth control for my 16 year old foster daughter. Believe me, it works wonders.
If I ever get pregnant, anyone who brings a camera into my delivery room will end up having to have said camera surgerically removed from their person.
I wonder that whenever I see the parents who always have a camera to their face at anything that remotely qualifies as an ‘event.’ Are you really ever going to watch little Cindy’s fifth grade DARE graduation ceremony again?
I videotaped the birth of my daughter and am so glad I did so. The only people besides myself and my husband who have seen it are my grandmother and my step-mother. They asked to see it. Others have seen the edited version, just after the baby came out, with all the icky stuff and money shots cut out.
I did all the drugs I had coming to me at my kids birth and had exactly the birth I wanted but some of the details have gotten a bit fuzzy over time. Watching the birth video (and it was only about 6 months after she was born that I was ready to watch it) has brought it back into sharp relief for me and helped me remember bits I had forgotten.
Hey, birth ain’t pretty. A miracle and a blessing sure. But delicately scented with flowers and powder and gently blushing parents? No. It is bloody, messy, loud, sweaty and damn hard work and yet still beautiful, awe-inspiring and possibly the greatest experience ever. So - am I glad I have a video record of it? I sure am.
This is pretty much my mom’s opinion, though it’s a little late, seeing as her youngest is 20. There were no cameras at either my or my brother’s birth; heck, my father wasn’t allowed in at all for mine! I’ve seen enough births on TV and stuff to know I have no desire whatsoever to see her doing that. I met my brother a few hours after he was born, which was fine, and I’ve heard descriptions of what happened. A video would be TMI.
I wouldn’t want to see me being born either, but as far as I know home-type videotaping wasn’t available at that point. And that is just fine by me.
My friend gets her birth videos out every birthday and watches them. (She has 5 kids.) Nobody else watches them; she just likes to remember them herself. However, she’s always been fascinated with pregnancy and birth and is, in fact, an L&D nurse. So she can take a lot of birth-watching.
I wouldn’t want a video camera in there with me, but it would have been pretty boring anyway; I had c-sections. And DangerDad wouldn’t even look past the curtain, much less tape the action.
Look, I am not a “you owe me a new keyboard” kind of a guy. Anyone that you ask can tell you that. However, I literally laughed out loud, scared the cat off my lap and now have to peroxide the scratch marks on my leg over that post. v
Well, Mrs. Bug is due any day now and we were a little suprised to learn that our hospital no longer permits video photography in the delivery room.
She was quite relieved, of course. I didn’t plan to tape the birth, but she was not so sure about my intentions. Sometimes I can be a little mischevious… >:D
Also, ouir prenatal education instructor recommended that videos and still cameras be black and white, since it makes all the blood stand out less… some of the more squeamish people look at the picture and see nothing but the blood, but if the photo is black and white, then they’re just grey smudges… “ya got some schmutz on your schnoz there, kiddo.”