Mom channels Chewbacca during labor

Yet another mother has gone viral by channeling her inner Wookiee — this time, from a hospital bed while in full-blown labor.

You’ll likely recall Candace Payne’s supremely popular viral video from last May. The Texas mom donned a talking Chewbacca mask from Kohl’s in her car and proceeded to dissolve in hysterical laughter. Her infectious video wound up becoming the most-watched Facebook video of all time, with more than 164 million views. For real. And if you haven’t seen it, we dare you to watch Payne’s delight at her new toy and not want to invite her over for Thanksgiving. We tried to resist; we really did. But Payne’s joy over her mask was so genuine, we kind of fell in love with her. Did she intend to go viral? Doubtful, which made her video all the more appealing and ridiculous.

Now, a Detroit woman is garnering attention for her own Chewbacca mask video: this time, while she’s in labor. She packed her Chewbacca mask — presumably along with her toothbrush and slippers — for her trip to the hospital to deliver her baby.

Is it just us, or is this whole thing feeling a little too planned? Maybe earlier in 2016 we would have delighted in her antics, but now times have changed, and we’ve grown hardened and cynical.

Katie Stricker Curtis’s 12-second video features her in the Chewbacca mask, writhing in labor pain and groaning in Shyriiwook, the Wookiee language. The video has already garnered close to 100,000 views since she posted it on Jan. 2 after giving birth to her son Jayden.

Many mothers flooded Stricker Curtis’s Facebook page to leave comments of congratulations and praise. A few seemed eager to borrow a page from her playbook: “I’m getting a Hulk mask for delivery day,” said one commenter. On Twitter, fan @kerieffingmarsh said, “The woman who gave birth while wearing a Chewbacca mask is the kind of woman I aspire to be.”

(How about Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Meryl Streep? Ronda Rousey? No? You’re going with the woman who gave birth wearing a Chewbacca mask. Okey-doke.) 

Look, maybe it’s just us, but we think Shyriiwook is fairly indistinguishable from the noises most women in labor make anyway. So why is Stricker Curtis’s video so popular? Is it the birth angle, the Star Wars theme or the fact that we’re all secretly craving a little internet fame?

We’re interested to see how far this Wookiee mother’s fame takes her. In Payne’s case, her parking lot Chewbacca fun scored her not just admirers, but TV appearances, gifts and even the chance to perform on stage at the Grand Ole Opry with country singer Dylan Scott. And, again, that’s great for her, but we kind of hope this copycat Chewbacca mom doesn’t beget more. We can do without more Wookiees giving birth. Or getting hitched. Or getting their tubes tied. Or going to the DMV. Actually, we’d like to see a Wookiee at the DMV.