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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 in Shock 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.
  • Downplayed: Alice screams a few times, but her birth is generally punctuated by grunting and moaning.
  • 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 giving birth without any kind of drugs or painkillers.
    • Alice is young and extremely frightened.
  • 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.
    • Alice bears through the birth with Nerves of Steel while Bob does all the screaming.
    • Clean, Pretty Childbirth
    • While not quick, Alice's birth is painless.
  • 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.
    • The screams are not Alice's but of Bob's jealous ex Claire, who is pissed at Alice birthing Bob's child.
    • The screams are not Alice's; the attendant doctor is a fan of Primal Scream therapy and is just warming up before the big moment.
    • The screams are from Bob, whose hand is being squeezed tightly by Alice.
  • Double Subverted:
    • The epidural doesn't quite work; as soon as the baby starts to come out, the screaming begins.
    • But Alice starts screaming when she goes into active labour and everyone blocks their ears as now Alice and Claire are screaming.
    • By the time Bob shows up, the doctor has talked Alice around to Primal Scream, too, and it turns out to be very cathartic.
  • 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.
  • 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.
    • Alice's first time giving birth is painful and difficult because she doesn't know what to expect, but for her next childbirth(s) she gets straight to business with minimal screaming because this ain't her first rodeo.
  • 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.
  • Exploited:
    • Alice is screaming and in labour while on a mission with her friends, and so her friends pretend she's severely injured to get access to something they need.
    • The doctor turns out to be a villain who refuses to give her an epidural until she reveals the secret location of the hero's base.
  • 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."
  • Implied:
    • Everyone is nervous when Alice announces her second pregnancy, saying things like, "Remember last time? Remind me to stay out of the delivery room this time."
    • Loud screaming is heard coming from a maternity ward.
  • 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 is dreading the birth after hearing so many horror stories. She does research, contacts a good doctor or midwife, and arranges for the safest, most comfortable birth possible. The initial labor scares her, but her well-laid plans give her comfort, as well as encouraging words from Bob and her friends. The labor pains are bad; she's reduced to grunts and moans. But when it's done and Alice holds her baby, the joy, relief, and adrenaline provokes her to laugh spontaneously.
  • 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 is screaming because something is wrong and the doctor/midwife needs to figure out what before the mother 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.

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