Staying quiet while giving birth is nearly impossible. The experience usually comes with lots of moaning and groaning. That’s why one woman was so surprised to hear her doctor tell her to be quiet so she could concentrate while she gave birth. TikTok user Yasmyn Switzer recently shared her experience of going into labor on social media, and the video quickly went viral.
The clip comes with a caption that reads: “When I was pushing my baby out without meds and the doctor delivering her yelled at me to be quiet.”
The 20-year-old noted that she was in horrible pain while in labor and her doctor’s response was nothing short of rude.
“I was super nice, even in labor I’m not the type of person who’s cursing out the doctors or confrontational,” she explained in a follow-up video. “My water broke, I thought it broke about 10 minutes before, so I was in the active pushing part for about 10 minutes.”
Switzer said she arrived at the hospital about an hour before she started giving birth, having done the early stages of labor at home.
She asked for water to stay hydrated, but the staff didn’t bring her any for 30 minutes and she wasn’t hooked up to an IV.
She remembers two nurses came into the room to check on her. One nurse appeared to be training the other on how to check Switzer to see how dilated she was.
“I honestly was really uncomfortable with this. I didn’t really know what was going on,” she recalled. “When she checked how dilated I was it was kind of painful.”
She started pushing as soon as the doctor arrived.
“The doctor came in right after my water broke, then as I’m pushing I am not like screaming or really being that loud but kind of moaning along with when I’m pushing my daughter out and I’m listening to my body,” she continued. And that’s when her doctor told her to calm down.
“In the middle of my contractions as I’m pushing her out and making noise the doctor goes, ‘I’m going to need you to be quiet so I can hear.’ It was so rude! I’ve been with this doctor a lot through my pregnancies, and she’s always not had the best bedside manners.”
Switzer said she was so upset by the doctor’s comment that she lost focus on her breathing and soon her pushing fell out of rhythm.
“Luckily one of the nurses snapped me back into focus and was like, ‘just hold your breath and push’,” she added, “and I just looked at the ceiling and just pushed her out.”
She added that she was grateful this was her third child, so she was already familiar with the experience of giving birth.
Luckily, Switzer delivered her daughter without complications. She eventually “blacked out” after giving birth, but in the end was “pretty mad about the whole experience.”
Thousands of TikTok users have been flooding the post with comments about the woman’s ordeal.
“Make a complaint… they are supposed to tell you what they are doing before ever touching you and they are supposed to ask permission…” one person wrote.
“Suggestion from a hospital worker: Please send your story/provide your feedback to the hospital’s patient relations team! Your concerns are so valid,” another commented.
Another person wrote that they had the opposite experience when giving birth. “My doctor and nurses kept yelling they were like ‘LOUDER, get angry – it’ll help you push.’ They were awesome. I’m sorry you went through this.”
“Jeez you’re literally pushing a human out of you. They have no right,” another person commented.
