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15 Quotes From Celebrities About Giving Birth That Prove Every Experience Is *Unique*

by Kristin Manna

Childbirth has to be one of the scariest things a woman can face. Our whole lives we have heard how childbirth is the most magical and yet most painful thing a woman will ever experience. After being pregnant for what feels like forever, your due date is one that you can't wait for, but also one that makes you pretty nervous. Hopefully these quotes about giving birth from celebrities will help mentally prepare you for your big day — or at least make you laugh for a moment.

Whether your celebrity heroine is Beyoncé or Angelina Jolie there are tons of celebrity mamas who not only experienced childbirth, but shared part of their experience with us. And their words just might be what you need to get you through this experience. Think about it: when else will you be able to say you went through the same experience that one of your favorite celebrites went through.

Don't get me wrong. Of course there is some good that comes out of the whole experience: You finally get to meet this little seed that has been growing inside of you for the past nine months, and the love you feel for them will be out of this world. But to get your prize, you may have to endure some pain, tears, and incisions first.

1

Beyoncé

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“I had a very strong connection with my child. I felt like, when I was having contractions, I envisioned my child pushing through a very heavy door. I imagined this tiny infant doing all the work, so I couldn’t think about my own pain. We were talking. I know it sounds crazy, but I felt a communication.”

We all have heard communication is key. According to Beyoncé, the same goes for childbirth. The singer told Vogue that her experience was all about having a connection and communicating with her baby. Leave it to Queen B to take delivery to the next level.

2

Jessica Alba

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“It’s about being calm and breathing gently. Instead of pushing the baby out, it’s breathing the baby down. Your body naturally contracts and pushes the baby out. That’s what labour is. If you just allow it to do what it’s meant to do and if you can stay calm and open, then you’ll have an easier time with birthing—that’s the philosophy behind it. I did most of my labouring for my first child with hypnobirthing."-

Jessica Alba should teach her own childbirth class. Alba told Today's Parent how hypnobirthing helped her with the delivery of her first child.

3

Angelina Jolie

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“I don’t think there was anybody else in the hospital. It was just a little cottage—just the three of us. It ended up being the greatest thing. I had a C-section, and I found it fascinating. I didn’t find it a sacrifice, and I didn’t find it a painful experience; I found it a fascinating miracle of what a body can do.”

Angelina Jolie described her birthing experience to Vanity Fair, and not surprisingly, it's unique and makes us respect her even more.

4

Gisele Bündchen

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"My delivery was in a bath tub, in water. I wanted to have a home birth. I wanted to be very aware and present during the birth … I didn’t want to be drugged up. So I did a lot of preparation, I did yoga and meditation, so I managed to have a very tranquil birth at home. It didn’t hurt in the slightest. The whole time my mind was focused in each contraction on the thought ‘my baby is closer to coming out.’”

Okay, Gisele, we get you are perfect, as revealed by this quote Unassisted Childbirth by Laura Kaplan Shanley. Although many women have a more painful experience during childbirth, Gisele revealed that focusing on your breath can make the experience more calm and less painful. This is where all those yoga classes come in handy.

5

Alicia Silverstone

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“The first 14 hours were almost sexy. The oxytocin was doing all this magic, and it felt amazing. And then it got less than amazing. It got really intense, as labour is.”

The Daily News quoted Alicia Silverstone saying her labor was "almost sexy". Does this make anyone else just want to give birth to figure out what Alicia Silverstone is talking about? I guess she is right: labor can be sexy and make you realize how powerful you are as a woman and how incredible your body is. What's sexier than that?

6

Kristen Bell

“As someone who has never experimented with drugs, I really enjoyed it. While they were doing it, I was thinking, ‘What else could we get done down there?’… Anything to keep the epidural flowing.”

Kristen Bell revealed on The Ellen Show how much she loved having that epidural. Bell is known for being very candid about pregnancy, motherhood, and life in general. Check out more hilarious and refreshingly real tips from the "Momsplaining with Kristen Bell" episodes on EllenTube.

7

Holly Willoughby

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"I actually really like giving birth. I know, I’m a weirdo, but I really like it. Knowing you’re about to meet your baby, it’s just a really lovely time. It’s the best day ever."

Holly Willoughby's quote to Weekend magazine revealed that the experience is totally worth it because you get to finally meet your little bundle of joy.

8

Kathryn Hahn

"A lot of stuff is happening down there after childbirth for quite some time."

Actress and comedian Kathryn Hahn made a guest appearance on an episode of Bell's "Momsplaining with Kristen Bell". Hahn made sure to warn an expecting mom on the show about the leakage she will experience after childbirth.

9

Miranda Kerr

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"I kept thinking, how do women do this? But if other women have done this, I can do it, too. I was determined. I actually thought I was going to die at one point and left my body. I felt as if I was looking down on myself — the pain was so intense.”

The Victoria's Secret model Miranda Kerr got real about her childbirth and told Instyle Australia she thought she was going to die at one point. I am sure this is something many women can relate too.

10

Jill Duggar

“He’s worth every contraction. Every pain that I had all this long labor. Just getting to see that little baby and hold him, everything, [was] just … well worth it."

After 70 hours of labor, two midwives and then a C-section, this is what Jill Duggar had to say about her childbirth experience. You can watch what went down in a special episode of 19 Kids and Counting.

11

Christina Applegate

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"I didn't like the feeling of numbness ... It was really creepy to me. It was too much, so we turned it off and we opted to go all the way, feeling it all."

Some women find natural labor too painful, so they opt for some meds. Christina Applegate didn't react well to her epidural, so she told Ellen that she reversed her decision and delivered her baby without additional meds. This has got to be a first in the history of childbirth.

12

Jennifer Hudson

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"Everybody told me how much it was going to hurt afterwards but I think I have a different tolerance for pain than others. By that night after I had the baby, I'm like, 'Look, I can't sit in this bed anymore. I've got to get up!' I've been up and about since he was born. To me, the pain is no different than when you work out a muscle you've never worked out before and it's sore."

Jennifer Hudson told People that she didn't have extreme pain after her C-Section with her first son David, and that it just felt like she had worked out. Either this girl is really lucky or she has a very high pain tolerance.

13

Alanis Morisette

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"The experience was beyond pain. It was a transcendental experience. I just went to this whole other world. I basically had to be the little soldier that I am and really focus on this new beautiful creature coming out of me."

Alanis Morisette opened up to Today about how painful her home birth was. And honestly, this doesn't sound like an exaggeration at all.

14

Kate Winslet

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"I've never talked about this. I've actually gone to great pains to cover it up. But Mia was an emergency C-section. I just said that I had a natural birth because I was so completely traumatized by the fact that I hadn't given birth. I felt like a complete failure. My whole life, I'd been told I had great childbearing hips. There's this thing amongst women in the world that if you can handle childbirth, you can handle anything. I had never handled childbirth, and I felt like in some way that I couldn't join that 'powerful women's club.'"

Kate Winslet revealed not only that she had a C-section with her daughter Mia, according to Cafe Mom, but that she lied about it. The The fact that she was insecure about sharing this information is proof that society places way too much pressure on women to conceive, birth, and parent a certain way, when really, the way that a baby is delivered doesn't make anyone less of a person.

15

Busy Philipps

"After my doctor got [Birdie's] head and shoulders out, she asked, 'Do you want to pull your baby out? Give me your hands.'"

We all know Busy Philipps is one bad B. I mean do you follow her Instagram? She is killing it. So, of course it comes to no surprise that the Cougar Town star would help pull out her own baby, and her midwife even snapped a photo to prove it, according to People.

Check out Romper's new video series, Bearing The Motherload, where disagreeing parents from different sides of an issue sit down with a mediator and talk about how to support (and not judge) each other’s parenting perspectives. New episodes air Mondays on Facebook.