I suppose the real comparison is the point at which women look for pain relief and, yeah, I think most women would probably be looking for pain relief after two hours of active labour.

No the experiment was SET for two hrs. one guy valerio gave up the other one could have gone further. The baby was a doll obviously. I’m Dutch myself worked on a labour ward (delivery suite) here in Ireland i tell ya there r some real strong women here (and some not im sorry). In 2hrs i have seen 5 deliveries (forceps, vac, episiotomy, quick textbook one and a cesarean) by 5 different woman. We men could not endure such pain i salute you women! (some go for the entonox pain relief too quick, more research needs to be done on that). Life is precious live it right! Love all serve all and respect all life and ANY human being they all have a mother!

Ah ok. Nice profile pic too by the way. Although it’s awkward in a turning up to a party to find someone in the same outfit kind of way.

Have it your way Mr.Murphy sure you wear the pants at home!

Sorry i meant to post a facepic in my scrubs…..

I’d gestate them externally if I could ;)

hahahah that is the most acceptable non-sequitur political comment ever

You should see the follow up video where they pass a grapefruit through their rectum, hilarity ensues!

Now thats the spirit well done u r a great role model! And breastfeed everyone is feidir linn!

We Never……!

I always did suspect this whole child birth is painful thing was female propaganda aimed at giving women more leverage in the ongoing toilet seat standoff.

well… theres kind of a payoff with the baby thing

I would like to experience it. I really wanted to take the pain away when wife was in labour. However she got months of lie ins. And rest as a thank you for my beautiful daughter.

I have a very vague recollection of hearing a theory that there’s some chemical or hormone that sorta blocks out the memory of pain, in a sense it’s a survival mechanism, because if a mother remembers the pain of childbirth (and some do) they will never willingly go through it again.

I don’t know whether this was specific to child birth or if it was a general part of the brains way of dealing with pain.. Like I said, the memory is quite hazy on this one..

This is true ,, about half hour or so after giving birth this chemical is released so we don’t remember the full intensity of the pain .. Other wise we wouldn’t go through it again .. We do remember pain but not the full intensity of it …

“Objection your honour” discrimination!

Your poor girlfriend. I bet she feels the pain, too.

haha. Will you get milk on the way home?

Katie. My other half always feels the pain and she never stops moaning:)

Deirdre, modern humans appeared around 200,000 years ago, we haven’t changed genetically much since then (still fighting territorial wars and killing each other) but females of all species evolved to propagate and give birth, males didn’t, females are designed for this and thus so have a much higher threshold for pain than men (manflu?), we have neither the equipment or stamina to give birth so I don’t see why we should all go through this to support our wives. I know genders are much more equal these days but 200,000 years ago did the females of the species hunt, kill, gather? Also evolution has made it so that with all the pain and pushing it triggers such a chemical release as to create a bond between mother and child that is never really broken so strong that she would die defending that child, doubt a male would feel as strongly.

Let’s hope it’s never up to you.

For stating the facts or that men are incapable of having children or tolerating the pain of childbirth. Get off your feminist high horse and read my post again I’m applauding women .

Technically, women don’t have a higher threshold for pain, they also have more nerve endings than men so the pain they experience is worse than what men experience. And biology isn’t perfect and women’s bodies are not expertly designed for pregnancy and childbirth – until modern medicine childbirth was the leading cause of death for women.

The only reason why women can stick it, is because they have no choice. It’s the only way they can make babies happen.

Also, anthropologists are fairly certain that yes women did gather and hunt and kill. Hunting maybe not as much, but they were, it’s believed, are thought to have invented pottery, basketmaking, weaving, textiles, horticulture, and agriculture. Just so you know, they weren’t just lying around popping out babies every few minutes.

Women always complaining about the pain of labour, it’s much worse standing on an upturned plug in your bare feet!

God Niall,I’d say you are some craic at a party

I can hold my own Shane, the above post was not meant to be derogatory in any way towards women and if Eleen is right I stand corrected,but ive witnessed the birth of both my daughters who are now adults and have nothing but the utmost respect for what my wife went through without any pain relief its just the bullcr@p every time on here when you get these gender bashing comments that annoy the living hell out of me.

Ah yeah, I was only messing with you. But I don’t see how Deirdre is guilty of gender bashing. She was just making a joke.

Go to YouTube and look up “manflu, the truth”. Brilliant piece of work. So true. I am thankful that one mans courage and story may shed a light for the rest of us men

Shane I didnt direct the feminist comment at Deirdre the post I directed it at has been removed but here’s a test for the lads, stick on a slender tone abdominal thingy hand the controller to your wife/partner and experience the pain as they P themselves at your agony

Yeah, twas only a joke.

And Niall, if you have respect for women, please don’t try to use feminism as a derogatory term. That really IS offensive.

Apologies Eleen but the thread was worth it for quote of the week which was the kick in the nuts analogy

Well said Niall , I’m just saying it be good for men to have this experience just once to understand and sympathise with their wives or partners . My sons are 20 and 18 and over the yrs iv heard men say that child birth is a doodle and we are over the top .. Well I had both births drug free , I even had a breach birth drug free .. I’d have likin my partner to have a taste of the pain … It’s a very funny video and it gave me a good laugh .

I know a recently married 30 year old who thought babies just slide out nice and clean and it took 10 mins max. That kind of attitude is sorta scary because if people can go on thinking that way for so long – then a hell of a lot of people are blindly ignoring the seriousness and dangers of childbirth.

Contraception and childbirth and pregnancy are all things that are such an important and prominent part of all our lives and yet unless you go looking on specific message boards etc, you hear hardly a word spoken about it.

Well said @niall

Sorry Niall, I just wanted to correct something minor..
Top intensity on a slender tone isn’t painful.. Periods are worse than that!!

I came accross this great tool for dads in the delivery room, thought I’d share, ;0) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=490253164342446&set=pb.115887315112368.-2207520000.1358890430&type=3&theater

Hence my comments about women’s pain threshold shanti

I dunno, the pain is quite intolerable.. It’s not like us women can cope with it, hence why we take pain killers, use hot water bottles, and act like crabby cows when we have them!!
The pain is still awful.. It’s not that we have a higher threshold, it’s just that we learn to put up with more because we have no choice..

Like I said, studies show women have generally a lower pain threshold. Shanti’s right – it’s not like we have a choice.

For me, period pains are so physically unbearable I’ve passed out from the pain many a time and I’ve never gotten used to it. It sucks so bad, and if labour is ten times worse than what I get every month, I’m sorry but I’m not ever having kids! >_<

Would it be appropriate to bring up man flu?? ;0)

Lol, yes perhaps – it is the daily edge after all ;)

Shanti & Eleen – where the hell was the vomiting, the passing out from pain, the hot & cold sweats etc ?? All jokes aside (what I’ve described is a regular monthly event for me!), although I do have a really horrible and painful period – CHILDBIRTH WAS A BREEZE (for me). I was very lucky, induced and under 2hrs from induction to baby in arms, but a few people have mentioned to me that painful periods can actually be worse than the main event; so don’t let that put you off! And God doesn’t give medals, so if you want pain meds, have pain meds! Have to say, fair play to those two guys for putting themselves up for that; don’t know many men that would. I did get great enjoyment out of watching it :-D

Thanks Trish for the wise words! I may brave it someday so!

And yes the vomiting and diarrhea etc etc, ugh >_<

Eileen before I had my sons I would have to take to my bed for a day in agony with hot and cold flushes it was so unbearable I went to a doctor , I was assured that when I had a baby my womb would stretch and I wouldn’t feel so much pain each month … after first son was born I did notice a major change for the better ..

Deirdre that all depends on what’s causing the excessive pain to begin with.

If its merely cramping then you may have a point – mind you, if it’s merely cramping then getting more magnesium and vitamin B6 would solve the problem easier than having a baby. Magnesium is required in order to allow muscles relax after contraction, B6 aids it’s absorption.

If period pain is bad enough to cause fainting, vomitting etc then it’s time to see a gynaecologist – it’s not supposed to be quite that bad. In these cases there’s a high possibility that something is wrong – most likely endometriosis.
Think about it, your womb lining thickens each month and sheds with the period, with endometriosis that womb lining is all over your abdominal cavity, it thickens up – but it never drains.. So the pain just gets worse the older you get. They used to advise women with endometriosis to have a baby to “sort them out”, but they don’t give this advice anymore because its nonsense. Pregnancy actually makes it worse in the long run.

So it’s not necessarily good advice to tell women to get pregnant to solve their dysmenorrhea woes, endometriosis is quite common.. Really – any woman who has excessively bad period pains needs to get referred to a gynaecologist pronto.

That’s not true women’s Bodies are designed to accommodate pregnancy and childbirth, that’s just scientific fact however I don think there’s any harm in cluing men in to how difficult it can be! Although most men with half a brain appreciate us for it, it’s also true about bonding hormones but equally rte that not all women are maternal or have to ave children!

Not at wrong when you think about it.

That

“Why do people say “grow some balls”? Balls are weak and sensitive. If you wanna be tough, grow a vagina. Those things can take a pounding.”

― Betty White

The child will always be the woman’s as long as we have crappy laws that automatically assume that women are the natural caregivers. This is wrong. Men are still seen as bystanders in a lot of ways – and they really aren’t. Without men taking an active role in the raising of children, we’re all f*cked.

But then, collectively a lot of men haven’t made an effort to take up all the responsibilities of raising a child and still leave a lot of that up to the women, so the laws aren’t going to change until there’s a real push for them to change.

And the seriousness is probably down to the fact that a lot of men belittle women who are going through such pains, and don’t understand how serious an issue it is. Or they don’t understand anything about childbirth whatsoever. It’s a way of denying experience, something that happens to women a lot because we live in a male-dominated society (women are classified as a minority even though we make up half of the population). And it hurts to have your experiences belittled like that.

I personally wouldn’t really wish it on anyone, pain is an intensely horrible experience that we would all rather avoid..
I do wonder however, whether those who belittle the pain, or wilfully ignore it (as in the case of those who would force a woman to go through it against her will) would benefit from such an experience?

If we could understand each other better we could strengthen our communication. On certain things any way..

I have reoccurring kidney stones, and in one recent trip to A&E, the receptionist was telling me that she has had kidney stones previously, and if she had to choose between child birth and kidney stones in terms of pain levels, she would take child birth! Even through to be honest I don’t really believe that, as a strong dose of IV morphine and I am happy out, unfortunately it’s not as simple as that for women in labour! The way I look at it is, a kidney stone, in my case, is typically the size of a frozen pea, except with sharp edges. However the ratio between male/female ‘parts’ and a frozen pea and a baby is still way off. A better equivilant for a male would be trying to pass a golf ball sized kidney stone at least (no thanks!)

Nice one Mike ! The problem with women is they never experienced real pain like slipping off the old saddle for a testicular slam down on the crossbar – now that’s PAIN !!!! Lol

tis the other way round I’m afraid.

You really gotta chill out, men are programmed to wind women up, hell they are bed bound at first sign of a head cold, childbirth heeheehe I DON’T THINK SO!!!!!!!!!!!! regardless of the somewhat humorous replies above :)

C sections aren’t that great.. They interfere with the release of hormones which encourage bonding, this in turn makes breast feeding more difficult, and post partum depression far more likely..

And saying something is a fact doesn’t make it that way, some references to back up these facts (as calling them such places the burden of proof on you) might help?