Screaming Birth/Playing With

Basic Trope: A pregnant woman gives birth in a dramatic fashion, complete with screaming.
 * Straight: After a mad rush to the hospital when her water breaks, Alice gives birth while screaming in pain.
 * Exaggerated: Alice gives birth while screaming death threats not only at Bob, who impregnated her, but Carl the doctor delivering her baby and by extension every man who ever existed. Her labour pains are broadcast throughout the entire hospital in bloodcurdling detail, convincing several people that someone is being horrifically murdered. Bob faints from sheer horror at what is happening during the birth. Immediately after the birth, however, Alice is perfectly serene and transfixed by her beautiful baby.
 * Justified:
 * There are complications on top of it being Alice's first child and on top of that she tenses up in anticipation.
 * Alice is of a chibi race, and babies' heads are big enough that labor involves a dislocation of the pubic symphysis to let the head through.
 * Inverted: Alice gives birth in a warm pool of water making her serene when she gives birth.
 * Alice is drugged or drunk when she gives birth and barely notices what is happening.
 * Alice's birth appears to be quick and painless so she's said to be Out Giving Birth Back in Two Minutes.
 * Subverted: After a tense, pressured ride to the hospital, Alice appears quite stressed out... but is given an epidural and gives birth in a relatively tranquil fashion.
 * Double Subverted: The epidural doesn't quite work; as soon as the baby starts to come out, the screaming begins.
 * Parodied: Alice's birth screams are so violent and dramatic she trashes the ward and injures all the medical staff, all while lying in the bed.
 * Deconstructed: Alice's labour is induced by giving her Pitocin, thus forcing her body into giving birth as fast and as hard as possible so she does actually feel like her body is being ripped open.
 * Reconstructed: Alice gives birth in a Birthing Center or her home in as comfortable and natural a fashion as possible. She lets the baby come when her body tells her it's ready and she has such a blissful experience that she screams in orgasm as they claim is possible in Orgasmic Birth.
 * Zig Zagged: Alice is given drugs, but they result in mood swings -- one moment she's dreamily rambling on about nothing in particular as she's giving birth, the next the pain kicks in and she's screaming her head off threatening revenge on the entire male gender. But then, when she's actually giving birth, she's relatively calm and focused.
 * Averted: Alice's labour is treated in a realistically natural fashion.
 * Enforced: The writers have uncomfortable memories of what happened when they or their wives gave birth, and have exaggerated them for comic effect.
 * Lampshaded: "My God! This is the loudest birth I've ever experienced!
 * Invoked: Alice's labour is deliberately sabotaged in order to make the experience as uncomfortable and painful for her as possible.
 * Defied: Alice is given a sufficient amount of drugs to help with the pain and is positioned in a fashion to help with the birth while still ensuring her comfort as much as possible.
 * Alice belongs to Scientology
 * Or, Alice opted not to be given drugs, but is Made of Iron.
 * Discussed: "I remember when Alice give birth. It was... difficult to watch."
 * Conversed: "Okay, when I give birth, I'm getting drugs. Lots of drugs."
 * Played For Laughs: Alice's Screaming Birth is just the cap on a slapstick comedy of errors which has surrounded this entire birth.
 * Played For Drama: Alice and/or the baby die during the difficult birth.
 * During her labour pains, Alice says some things to Bob which she didn't intend to say but can't easily take back. Bob is hurt and upset by her words, and after the birth Alice feels guilty but also feels that under the stressful circumstances at the time she should be given a pass for what she said. This creates tension between the two which lasts for some time.

Back to Screaming Birth