In episode 6, the birth of Julia’s baby turns into something out of a horror movie.

This article contains spoilers about Outlander: Blood of My Blood episode 6, titled “Birthright.”

Oh, mama.

Having a baby is never an easy experience, but the sixth episode of Outlander: Blood of My Blood plunged poor Julia (Hermione Corfield) into a hellacious labor experience.

When Julia returns from Beltane, Lord Lovat (Tony Curran) and Davina (Sara Vickers) call for the town’s women, local midwives, and mothers to stay with Julia during her confinement. This reflects a tradition of the times, though it’s meant to be far more soothing and welcoming than what Julia receives.

“It was going to be this lovely moment for her,” explains showrunner Matthew B. Roberts. “These gossips were going to come in and take care of her and help her out. Then, there’s this flip and it becomes this living nightmare for her and Davina.”

At first, however, the flip happens because of Davina. The housekeeper reveals to the women that the baby is not Lord Lovat’s, a fact which Julia denies. But Davina calls Julia a “Jezebel,” encouraging the women to rail against her and “mourn the loss of her innocence.” They slap her, hold her down, and insult her, insisting that “pain is the price a woman pays for sin.”

“It’s supposed to be women helping other women give birth,” says Corfield of the historical roots of the scene. “But it takes a nasty turn because you’ve got the added situation of Davina saying, ‘She gave herself to Lord Lovat.’ That turns the women to say, ‘Well then, you are a whore and a shameful woman,’ all the other words they call her.”

Roberts notes that the writer of the episode, Danielle Berrow, discovered that such vicious slut-shaming was also a part of historical tradition in this era. “She dug it up in history and it is a real thing,” he notes. “When she presented it, I fell in love with it. It’s the world’s worst baby shower.”

Filming the scene was no Highland picnic for Corfield either. “It was exhausting,” she says. “We had three or four day in that space — and when you’ve got the fire going and the candles, and it’s dusty, the oxygen just gets sucked out the room. So, by the end I actually was pretty dizzy and delirious.”

Not to mention the fact that Corfield and the other actors in the scene had to get quite physical. “The girls holding me down were putting everything into it,” Corfield says. “Honestly, by the end, I was actually struggling to stand up.”

Ultimately, despite her resentment, Davina saves Julia when Julia begs her not to harden her heart against her and tells her, “I’m sorry for what happened to you.” First, we see Davina remember the same thing happening to her when Brian (Jamie Roy) was born and the strength it took her to save the baby from the women’s clutches. Reflecting on her own past, Davina dismisses the women from Julia’s space, along with Lord Lovat, who is intent on marrying Julia in the midst of her labor pains.

“Davina is innately a really good person who’s been in this situation her whole life,” explains Roberts of her change of heart. “She finally gets to that moment of ‘Wow, that could be me, and I wouldn’t want that to happen to me again.’ Her heart comes out in that scene, and it’s the start of their bond, which is cool to develop.”

Corfield believes that Julia reiterating to Davina that what happened to her wasn’t her fault is what pushes Davina to change her mind. “Davina holds a lot of shame,” she says. “Julia says to her, ‘Your son is the way he is because of you, not because of Lovat. You’ve shaped him.’ She basically is begging Davina to give her a chance to shape her child. It’s a mother to mother moment that finally gets through to Davina.”

Executive producer Maril Davis echoes Corfield’s thoughts on the role of shame throughout this sequence. “Davina always thought it was her fault,” Davis reflects. “That Lovat taking advantage of her was something she did. Through the Julia experience, she realized that it actually wasn’t her fault. And she had to do it on her own, the birth and kicking all the midwives out. That’s the moment it clicks — ‘It wasn’t Julia’s fault, just like it wasn’t my fault.'”

Adds Roberts: “Davina’s one true love in life is Brian. She sees that with Julia. She knows what it feels like to have your child ripped from you and cause that kind of pain. And we will carry through the season with that.”

In the end, Julia gives birth to a son, and in a rare moment of peace, she shares a quiet evening with Brian, giving him a cake with a candle since he doesn’t know when his birthday is. Julia should relish it, given that Lovat is still intent on marrying her — despite the fact that she’s already married to Henry Beauchamp (Jeremy Irvine). A circumstance not unlike Claire’s (Caitriona Balfe) marriage to Jamie (Sam Heughan) in season 1 of Outlander.

“Like mother, like daughter,” Corfield teases, with a laugh. “Though Claire’s second marriage is a bit more passionate. Julia has to do what’s necessary. You have to survive, but everything in her instincts is fighting against doing that. Lord Lovat repulses her. But she doesn’t have very many options at that point.”