So, spoiler alert for those of you who missed it: giving birth hurts.
Like a lot.
People who have given birth, particularly unmedicated, can attest to that. But they're not the only people who should be well versed in the pain (or in the sights, smells and sounds) common during labor.
Medical professionals who assist in labor and delivery - like a womans long-time OBGYN, for example - also have a solid understanding of the pain that happens when giving birth.
At least they should.
But one woman's TikTok videos, and the conversations happening in the comments, have people questioning if these doctors do actually understand - or care.
And that, honestly, is terrifying.
TikTok user Yasmyn Switzer shared a brief clip that threw people for a loop.
There wasn't much context given in that first video - but amazingly (we don't mean that in a good way) there didn't need to be in order for people to relate.
Even without the details or backstory, others already had a lot to say.
@yasmynswitzer/TikTok
@yasmynswitzer/TikTok
@yasmynswitzer/TikTok
@yasmynswitzer/TikTok
Yasmyns follow-up video gave us a fuller idea of what happened.
Though she's young, Yasmyn is an experienced mother - this incident happened during the birth of her third child.
She had already done most of the laboring at home before heading to the hospital to deliver. Her doctor, an OBGYN she had been a patient of for previous pregnancies and who was quite familiar with the sounds of labor and delivery, was the one who dropped that gem of a comment - but things at the hospital went sideways well before the doctor got involved.
As we mentioned, this was Yasmyns third child. All of them were delivered unmedicated, so neither the process nor her bodies needs during delivery were unfamiliar to her.
When she got to the hospital, already very close to delivering, she asked for water to stay hydrated.
She was ignored.
Some facilities don't allow water or food during labor in case an emergency cesarean is needed - but in those cases you are typically hooked up to an IV quickly to prevent dehydration.
That didn't happen either.
Next, the nursing staff brought in a new employee and decided to teach them how to check for dilation using Yasmyn as the teaching tool.
Except nobody ran that by Yasmyn, who was in the middle of active labor, in pain, frustrated and thirsty, and now had totally unskilled hands shoved inside of her for "educational purposes."
The doctor didn't come around until after Yasmyns water actually broke - about ten minutes before her daughter was born.
Moaning and pushing along with contractions is a pretty common technique, but it was evidently just too much for the doctor to handle that day since it got Yasmyn scolded.
Her video explaining the fuller story:
This particular doctor has never had the greatest bedside manner, but this overall experience was enough to discourage Yasmyn from having another hospital birth should she have more kids.
And while hospital births are generally considered safer should something go wrong, they can also be dehumanizing and traumatic.
The comments section was on fire - again, not in a good way.
@yasmynswitzer/TikTok
@yasmynswitzer/TikTok
@yasmynswitzer/TikTok
@yasmynswitzer/TikTok
@yasmynswitzer/TikTok
@yasmynswitzer/TikTok
@yasmynswitzer/TikTok
Yasmyn's story, unfortunately, is clearly a common one.
@kileywrestling/Bluesky
