Dads, You Need to Know the Realities of Labor
I have labor on the mind, sorry… but rightly so. My wife is about to give birth to our 5th child. Though we seem to be pros by now in this entire ordeal, especially where we have delivered all of our kids so far at home, we still tend to go through the same spikes in anxiety, frustration in the fact the baby isn’t out yet, exhaustion from sleepless nights and back rubs, and all the other normal parts of pregnancy at nine months.
I have talked a little about pregnancy and the child birth experience but haven’t let you in on any of the actual labor details, and I don’t really plan to on a personal level but there is an article that speaks to dad about the realities of labor. Most dads really don’t have much knowledge of what really happens, especially if it is their first child. But unlike the movies, there are some things you should know so that you are prepared when it happens. There is one thing that surprised me the most, and JohnnyO over at Fatherhood Matters, said the same thing:
To be honest, I literally thought the baby POPPED out of the womb. Never in my wildest dreams imagined the labor process.
Despite all the pushing and grunting when that baby decides to come out it literally pops right out. So I did think it just popped out and I was right. With each one of my kids I couldn’t really see the baby in mid air. It was like the baby’s head was out and then BAM the baby was in the arms. I am sure it wasn’t the case for some people but that is the only way I can describe it.
But there is an article written by Wayne Parker called What Every Dad Should Know About Labor. He literally covers the issues we face during the last stages of pregnancy and all the stages of labor which include: Starting Labor, Early Labor, Active Labor, Transition, and then lastly Pushing. Make sure to go read through it. There is some good stuff in there us dads should be aware of.
Tags: anxiety, child-birth, dads, fatherhood, labor, pregnancy, realities, wayne-parkerRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Advice
3 opinions for Dads, You Need to Know the Realities of Labor
Tony D. Clark
Jan 19, 2007 at 12:12 pm
With our first, I had no clue what to expect. I remembered one episode of “The Incredible Hulk” where a baby was breech and Banner managed to turn the baby around. I didn’t remember how though, so I was relying on the doctors to know what to do. My experience was mostly from TV - which as we all know is SO accurate (which is why people always give birth to 4-month olds on TV).
With our second, we attended Bradley classes, so I learned WAY more than I ever wanted to know. But, it made the whole process much better, since I could actually coach, rather than just yell out the same thing the doctor was.
With our third, it was a home birth. I actually knew almost as much as the midwife (well sort of). As a knowledge geek it was very cool to know what was happening at all the stages and be able to spout off intelligent sounding stuff to the rest of the family waiting downstairs.
steve
Jan 20, 2007 at 10:30 am
Tony, that is great you had your 3rd child at home. I would say I have learned a great deal having kids at home, but I don’t know nearly as much as my midwife.
My wife is medical minded. She is a vet but has a strong interest in people medicine too so she is always trying to let the midwife see how much she knows.
» Story Of A First Birth - Not Exactly According To Plan
Feb 16, 2007 at 3:26 am
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