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Why dads don’t belong in the delivery room, and other lessons of childbirth learned by a father
National Post / The Telegraph ^ | July 3, 2014 | Neil Lyndon

Posted on 07/04/2014 8:42:07 PM PDT by canuck_conservative

... But then there’s a lot about labour that nobody puts in so many words. Nobody ever told me that after the birth, I would feel as shaken as if I’d been in a car crash. That was how I felt for about two days after my oldest son was born, 32 years ago.

I now see it as my fatherly, comradely duty to pass on that kind of information, sparing no gory detail, to young men about to see service in that war zone for the first time. Nobody else — certainly not those fluffy prenatal classes — will fill them in.

“You do know about the afterbirth?” I murmur solicitously, watching them go green with a certain satisfaction. Nobody told me. When it appeared — about five minutes after the main event — I was already cooing over my first-born son. “Dear God!” I exclaimed. “There’s another one arriving!”

New fathers also need to be told that, when they enter that room, they might not see daylight again for a long time; and also that, in the endless night to come, they are likely to witness sights no civilized man should ever see except in gruesome hand-to-hand combat with axe and pike.

My older daughter was born after 30 hours of labour in hospital, culminating in an emergency Caesarean with 18 medical staff in the operating theatre (plus my irrelevant self). The next day, I asked the Registrar: “How is it that we can calculate the weight and circumference of a planet 10 billion light years away, but we can’t know the weight of a baby before it’s born?” (He answered: “That’s an interesting question and I wish I could give you an answer, but what I can tell you is that, if this mother had been ....

(Excerpt) Read more at life.nationalpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: afterbirth; caesarian; childbirth; fathers
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To: WorkingClassFilth

Agreed. This guy is a total gay wuss. Probably favors abortion... who knows... has he been witness to those. Sick stuff.


61 posted on 07/05/2014 4:49:08 AM PDT by lavaroise (A well regulated gun being necessary to the state, the rights of the militia shall not be infringed)
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To: canuck_conservative

The doc let my husband deliver our third.


62 posted on 07/05/2014 4:55:06 AM PDT by goodwithagun (My gun has killed fewer people than Ted Kennedy's car.)
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To: lavaroise

Traumatic injuries are horrible but it’s largely the shock that accompanies them or seeing them. The birth of a child - a long anticipated child with whom you already have acquaintance (movement, speaking to him/her) is something different. I always had concern for my wife but we were both overjoyed with the newborn (besides, I wasn’t bleeding). My opinion is that we’re too distant from the realities of life - like butchering our own meat. When it comes in a restaurant or on a pink foam tray, it is little more than calories to be prepared in some gastronomic concoction. When you raise it, kill it and butcher, it takes on a whole new meaning and connection to the real world.

Poor plastic man living in his bubble.


63 posted on 07/05/2014 5:00:39 AM PDT by WorkingClassFilth
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To: canuck_conservative

Better to say that sissies don’t belong in the delivery room.

I sat and held my wife’s hand, listened to her, let her know that at her most vulnerable moment, I was there to ensure she would be OK. There was no one no one else that could have done that.


64 posted on 07/05/2014 5:09:46 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: canuck_conservative

My husband watched all his children come into the world. He was fascinated by it. We had twins by natural birth, and I mean natural they came out so fast there was no time for meds. Then the last two came via C-section.


65 posted on 07/05/2014 5:13:07 AM PDT by linn37
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To: amihow
The father of mine went through classes, took me to hospital, promised to be with me and did not show up while I was in labor or for delivery and left hospital before I woke up. Explain that guys

So, he had always been totally reliable otherwise?

66 posted on 07/05/2014 5:14:03 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: Nea Wood

1. My wife never went into a rage.
2. I spent all my time at the head of the station, because that is where my wife’s eyes and ears were. I was there to support her, not be a spectator.


67 posted on 07/05/2014 5:20:51 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: waxer1

” private moment between me and my babies”....

Inpregnated yourself did you?


68 posted on 07/05/2014 5:37:08 AM PDT by mom4melody
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To: canuck_conservative

My hubs was there for both biological births and both adoptions. He was the first to hold all four of them. He is the Father....and he considered it both his responsibility and priviledge.


69 posted on 07/05/2014 5:39:10 AM PDT by mom4melody
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To: EDINVA

There is a reason that men were invited into the delivery room. It was to help lower the birthrate. The vast majority of men who see what actually transpires in the delivery room have a hard time arguing for that 4th and 5th child...


70 posted on 07/05/2014 5:44:59 AM PDT by Delta Dawn (Fluent in two languages: English and cursive.)
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To: Nea Wood

It’s called ‘transitional labor’ and I remember mine well......kind of.
Yes, even genteel ladies well brought up will say the most outlandish things........( or so they tell me)

It’s the last stage of delivery when your contractions are bare minutes or seconds apart......wave upon wave upon wave of labor contractions.


71 posted on 07/05/2014 6:25:27 AM PDT by Guenevere
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To: canuck_conservative

Our first daughter was born after a long night of labor that had started about one in the afternoon. After that night my daughter was born about 8 in the morning. Shortly after the clean up and the high fives, they brought her breakfast. Do you think anyone would have offered the dad a cup of coffee?

My wife still laughs at me for going put out because they wouldn’t feed me.

In the end feeling put out, unappreciated, exhausted, and hungry was good training to be a Dad for the past 25 years.


72 posted on 07/05/2014 6:45:21 AM PDT by Vermont Lt (If you want to keep your dignity, you can keep it. Period........ Just kidding, you can't keep it.)
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To: capt. norm

I never understood what love was until I held my daughter for the first time. I was amazing and natural. If I wasn’t in the room that moment wouldn’t have happened.


73 posted on 07/05/2014 6:48:55 AM PDT by Vermont Lt (If you want to keep your dignity, you can keep it. Period........ Just kidding, you can't keep it.)
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To: dinoparty

My son was born premature, but full-sized. We were not prepared, and I ended up helping in the delivery because SOMEONE had to. It was an awesome experience I was glad to be part of... but WHAT ON GOD’S GREEN EARTH ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ??? IT WASN’T GORY???? LOL...


74 posted on 07/05/2014 7:34:52 AM PDT by dangus
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To: SampleMan

Thank you. No he was reliable about work. He would come homes after work. But not much else.


75 posted on 07/05/2014 8:16:43 AM PDT by amihow
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To: wardaddy

:-)


76 posted on 07/05/2014 8:17:29 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: Theophilus

I hear ya.

Hospitals are for sick people.


77 posted on 07/05/2014 8:18:15 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: baltiless

I was present for the birth of 13 of my 15 grandchildren. Best moments of my life. I am a grandmother. (Two came to quick for me to get there.)


78 posted on 07/05/2014 9:27:06 AM PDT by Guardian Sebastian (Mother of God, pray for us and our country.)
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To: canuck_conservative

I think that it’s wonderful when the father is in the delivery room, but other members of the family? Not so much. I’ve heard of mothers in law demanding to be there. I can’t imagine that.


79 posted on 07/05/2014 9:34:14 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: mountainbunny

Lol

Nothing worse than unpainted wolfwoman toenails while birthing


80 posted on 07/05/2014 10:21:46 AM PDT by wardaddy (we will not take back our way of life through peaceful means.....i have 5 kids....i fear for them)
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