This article provides an account of the digital mediation of childbirth in the UK. Findings reveal that online discussions offer a cathartic, empowering and questioning space as women prepare for and make sense of childbirth. In contrast, they also often work to silence and shut down as “horror stories” experiences which do not fit into narratives of “good” birthing. I also find that multimodal repertoires are used skilfully to produce visual cultures through which a highly specific maternal subjectivity is mediated. Online discussions of birthing display the juxtaposition of two value laden narratives. The one emphasizes the necessity and superiority of a drug-free vaginal birth and sits within the feminist rebuttal of obstetric domination of birthing and is an empowering discourse. The other which seeks to silence those whose births did not fit within this model, and presents them with the task of silencing the “horror-story” narrative.