Welcome back to the Doctor Rich channel! You’ve previously seen my “reacts” video to The Stokes Twins’ Period Pain Simulator. They have an encore which we’re now going to react to — the Labor and Delivery Simulator (which is guaranteed to be more hilarious)!
And — as with our last video — hopefully there are some life lessons in there as well. Check it out!
Don’t have time to read this post? Watch the video here instead!
Alan Stokes:
All right, guys. So as you know, last time we did the Period Pain Simulator. This time we’re gonna be kicking up a notch and doing the Labor Pain Birth Simulator!
Alex Stokes:
We know that as guys — we’ll never actually know what is really like giving birth. We’ll never know how painful it is… but we actually have the technology to find out how painful it can be.
Alan:
So we have a birth simulator right here, so we can simulate what it’s like to give birth.
Kat (the twins’ female friend):
Giving birth is the most painful thing in the world…
Doctor Rich:
Actually, most women who rate pain scores (for the most painful experience they’ve had in their life) consistently rate kidney stones higher than labor pain. Every patient is going to be different — many women actually rate their endometriosis pain worse than labor pains — but clearly this is in the top three of any category that we’re going to look at for severity of pain (as rated by women).
Kat:
…so you guys will be experiencing that.
Alan, Alex, and their friend Jeremy [cringing]:
Whoa…
Kat:
Many women actually poop while giving birth.
Alex:
Really?
Jeremy:
Whoa!
Alex:
What?! I thought girls didn’t poop!
Doctor Rich [laughing]:
So number one for The Stokes Twins (and for all of the teenage men out there) — yes, women DO poop. And then number two: Women poop during pregnancies! This is a very common part of the labor and delivery process. The fact that you are pushing a nine-pound baby out through the birthing canal… And the other organ systems (like the rectum) that are in the same area of the body means that everything’s gonna get pushed out through there as well. It can be a messy business, and it’s not for the faint of heart! (And just be glad that you don’t have to do it!)
Kat:
Okay! So which one of you guys are gonna go first?
Alan:
I think Alex should go first because he’s the closest to being pregnant out of all of us.
Alex:
Cool.
Doctor Rich:
I think Alex was the one that did the worst on the Period Pain Simulator. Let’s check it out!
Kat:
Okay. So what I need you to do is you’re gonna have to take off your top.
Alex:
I have to take off my top? [Alex takes off his hoodie] Do I need my underwear on for this? [acts like he’s about to remove his underwear]
Alan, Jeremy, and Kat [horrified]:
No, it’s fine. It’s fine. No, no… That’s a little too explicit!
Doctor Rich:
Yeah… Please leave your underwear on for this demonstration!
Kat [placing electrodes on Alex, who is laying on a bed, propped up on a pillow]
Okay. First patch.
Alex:
Stop! Don’t turn it on! Wait… So how do you know so much about this stuff?
Kat
Oh, I’m in school to be an OB/GYN.
Alex:
What’s that?
Kat [laughing]:
I don’t know…
Doctor Rich [laughing]:
I don’t think she’s in school to be an OB/GYN…
So OB/GYN is obstetrics and gynecology. It’s a field of medicine that is specifically for women’s health. It deals with the process of the observation and management of pregnancy — from the time of conception up through the time of delivery — as well as all women’s health issues! It encompasses general health, health that relates to the female reproductive tract, gynecologic issues — many of which we’ve talked about in our channel (including endometriosis, fibroids, and common visits for vaginal discharge). That may be a field that she’s aspiring to be into, and we’d encourage her to do that!
Alan:
Alright, Alex — spread your legs. [Alan places an electrode high on Alex’s inner thigh] Right next to the uterus!
Alex
Okay — before we start, I feel like we need a safe word!
Alan
Okay. What about more of, like, a “safe phrase?” Something like “Daddy, Daddy, stop it now.. Turn it off, you made a vow.”
Alex:
What if I were to just yell, “Stop?”
Doctor Rich [laughing]
I think “stop” is easier…
Alan:
So what she said earlier, we have the machine right here — and there’s going to be three levels. One is what we’re going to all start on. And level three is going to be the most extreme and most similar to the feeling of childbirth.
Doctor Rich:
So there are actually three stages of labor. The first begins when the cervix begins to dilate and ends when the cervix has reached full dilation of approximately ten centimeters. The second stage is from full dilation until the time that the baby is delivered. And then the third stage is from the time that the baby’s delivered till the placenta is delivered. I don’t believe that the three phases here represent those stages — but we’ll see how this pain simulator goes!
Alex:
You’re ready. Hey, let’s just start with level one, okay?
Alan:
Level one — here we go!
Jeremy [yelling]:
No!
Doctor Rich:
Oh, he chickened out! The other guy went first!
Everyone [counting down]:
Three… two… one…
[Jeremy yells and writhes on the table]
Doctor Rich:
Why is he moving around so much? Yeah… So I guess that’s level one. I don’t think he’s gonna make level three! It doesn’t have any reading of, like, how many joules of energy or whatever are being transmitted — but it looks pretty painful!
Alan:
Okay… Level two!
[Jeremy screams, laughs, and writhes on the “delivery table”]
Doctor Rich:
So it looks like he’s actually trying to deliver a baby.
Jeremy:
I cannot do round three! I’m sweating right now…
Doctor Rich:
Those are awesome socks too, by the way…
Jeremy:
For real, I’m literally sweating…
Kat [starting the simulator]
One… two… three…
[Jeremy shrieks, straightening his body]
Doctor Rich [laughing]:
Yeah… So this looks like an order of magnitude more…
…and they get a baby out of it. That’s cute!
[Jeremy throws the doll across the room]
Alan:
You’re not gonna be a good mom!
Jeremy:
It wasn’t worth all the pain! Dude, that was crazy!
Doctor Rich:
One of the things that should probably be brought up is the fact that they’re enduring 45 seconds of different levels of pain stimulation. That really doesn’t equate to the labor and delivery process — which (depending on which delivery it is for the patient) could be 30 minutes or could be 36 hours long! It’s truly a marathon experience — and it’s hard to imagine how women get through this over and over again. Although, the fact that this is the miracle of creating life tends to create an anesthetic effect (where the mother tends to forget how much pain they were in) — because it results in a human life! This often makes women “up for” the challenge of going through another trial of labor and delivery.
[laughing]
And yeah… Jeremy’s not gonna make a good mother!
Doctor Rich:
All right! Alex seems to be handling it (frankly) a little bit better…
Alex [bewildered, holding Jeremy’s hand]:
Level one?! That’s level one?!
Alan:
Jerry is such a supportive one!
Kat:
Number two!
[Alex screams in agony while the others laugh]
Alan:
Ouch! You’re pinching me!
Doctor Rich [laughing]:
So Alan’s complaining about Alex pinching him! He doesn’t even have on the electrodes! I think I’m wrong — think Alan was the one that did not tolerate it very well on the Period Pain Stimulator!
Alan:
Level three!
[Alex screams like he’s dying]
Doctor Rich:
It’s very dramatic with her button pushing! If she’s the obstetrician, she should be down there catching the baby, right?
[Alex continues screaming and pulling up his legs. There’s a toot sound, followed by a look of horror on Alex’s face. The others in the room begin waving away the putrid smell]
Alan:
I think something else came out…
Doctor Rich [laughing]:
I know they talked about it. I didn’t know they were gonna actually produce it! I’m not sure if that was a passage of gaseous matter — or if there was some physical matter involved there. But hey! Welcome to labor and delivery!
Alex:
I think I handled it way better than all these women out there… And you know what, I’m going to end it on, “I need new underwear.”
Doctor Rich
So that answers your question! He needs new underwear! But I’m not sure he handled it better…
[Doctor Rich, laughing] I love the “sheer trauma posture” he’s in before even starting!
So what, what’s the fuss with all the pain anyway? I mean, why do we even need contractions in the first place? So you have to understand that the uterus is an organ that houses the developing fetus — which grows to sometimes eight, nine, ten pounds — and then has to be delivered through a birth canal. At the beginning, the cervix itself is completely closed, and this process of contraction after contraction helps to dilate the cervix and slowly create enough space for the passage of the baby. And the body has to be able to do this a hundred percent of the time!
And yet it’s interesting because it’s one of the few processes in medicine that women are expected to undergo with no pain relief! No pain management! It’s one of the only medical processes that happens where there’s even an option not to have anesthesia. That’s certainly a choice, and many women just choose to do that (and mad respect!). But you don’t necessarily have to do that. You can choose to have analgesia or an anesthetic spinal pain management to numb the different sets of nerves. First, the nerves that innervate the uterus and provide pain sense to the uterus — and also the pressure sensing nerves on the pelvic floor that allow for the delivery of the baby.
So just to understand that there are very helpful, useful, effective anesthetic measures that can be taken so that you don’t have to experience that severity of pain (if that’s your choice).
Alex:
Okay, ready? One… two… three!
[Alan looks miserable]
Alan:
“Daddy, Daddy… Stop it now…”
Doctor Rich:
He’s trying to do the phrase!
Alex:
Listen! Hey, level two is coming right now. Are you ready?
[Alan begins shrieking. A caption reads, “I haven’t even started it yet…”]
Doctor Rich:
I don’t even think it’s on yet!
Alan:
Oh, it didn’t start?
Alex:
Okay level two is about to start right now. Three… two… one…
[Alan screams, bounces, and acts just like a woman in labor. He holds Jeremy’s hand and grabs Alex by the neck]
Alex:
Turn it off for me! He’s choking me!
Jeremy:
You’ve got one more to go!
Alan:
God, it’s just the way, like, the electro — whatever they’re called — it’s like, when they go in and it’s…
[Alex, with an evil look in his eye, starts the simulator while Alan is talking]
Doctor Rich [wryly]:
What were you saying?
[Alan screams with his legs spread-eagle]
He’s going to deliver… something!
[Alex holds up a baby and tells Alan it is beautiful]
Alan [no longer screaming, looking perplexed]:
Did you cheat on me? Of course you have that one…
[Alex turns the simulator back on, and Alan resumes screaming and writhing. He reaches to punch Alex]
Alan:
That is how you handle it like a man!
Doctor Rich [sarcastically]:
Like a man!
Alan:
You know what? I’ve learned to really appreciate women and their strength. [To Kat] I know you haven’t had a baby yet, but I just want to congratulate you and thank you for your service ahead of time.
Doctor Rich:
They do have to endure this to propagate our species! To bring new life into the world! And women deserve mad respect for that!
So thanks to The Stokes Twins for bringing this to the forefront of consciousness. It’s not to be taken lightly — you know, the sacrifices that have to be made!
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