The Beauty of Childbirth

I was in the delivery room for both of my daughters and fainted both times. The Art of Manliness.
 

Pepper said:
I was present at the birth of my children and I wish I had fainted. No such luck, awake for the whole damn thing.
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My labor only lasted a couple of hours and through the whole thing I kept thinking that I never would have guessed you could feel pain like that and not pass out. Poor Holly and all those long-labor heroes.

I also kept wondering why any woman had more than one child.
 
It was just me, the doctor and a male corpsman. I could have used a little female sympathy. Thank heavens for spinal blocks.

When my granddaughter was born, I was on "lower" duty as the guys (her husband and father) were staying at the top of the bed turning pale. The doctor asked, "Who wants to catch?" They didn't and I did. So I gloved up and she was born into my hands. I think that's why we're so close. My daughter was having breathing problems from the anesthesia, so I sat in a rocking chair holding the baby for the first two hours.
 
I definitely did not want "natural childbirth." I thought they'd knock me out and the baby would come out. Like in my mother's day.

No such luck. They kept yelling at me to "breathe" (I was breathing, like any living person) and "push" (no idea what that meant).

They wouldn't give me anything until they could "see the baby's head." When they did, the epidural didn't take. They finally gave me laughing gas, which did work.

Many years later a friend asked me, "Why didn't you inform yourself?" I thought I did! I thought that eschewing natural childbirth would spare me all that.

As for having a relative in the delivery room -- ew, no.
 
We went to pre-natal classes together with other couples. Then, a day after a doctor's appointment, the
hospital called for me to go in immediately. After waiting around for several hours, I was given a caesarean.
I couldn't hold my daughter until the following morning, which made me cry .. but her dad was there to hold
her after she was born.
 
Fathers weren't allowed in the delivery room at that time, which was just as well because my husband couldn't even be bothered to stay in the labor room, he was down the hall smoking the whole time as was tradition at that point.

My own family was in another state and that was all just fine with me -- until my husband called his father and step-mother, who I barely knew, and so I had to make polite conversation with them in between pains.

My biggest problem was that I had checked "breast feeding" and most of the nurses didn't notice that and kept giving my baby a bottle so he was never hungry when he got to me. One told me later that I was the first woman to breast feed there in thirty years. This meant I had to stay in the hospital for five days until my milk came in to the doctor's satisfaction. We had no insurance at the time. My son was four years old before we got him paid off.
 
No-one was with me for the whole 3 days I was in Labour , my ex husband was at Sea with the Royal Navy.... he couldn't get compassionate leave until the following Saturday...

One of my sisters had a caesarian.... her ex husband ''the woose'' was with her.. and he got so upset and hysterical he locked himself in the toilets.. the nursing staff had to beg him to come out...:oops::oops::cautious:...good thing he wasn't at my natural birth.. he'd probably have cut his throat..
 
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Chet said:
All I gotta' say is, I'm glad I'm a guy.
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Yeah but the guy is the one watching. She doesn't have a good view of what's happening. If she did, she'd probably strangle you soon as she could.

Fathers weren't allowed in delivery rooms when my kids were born. I watched a few of my g-kids be born, though. Well, kind of. The first one taught me when it was a good time to check the floor, look at my watch, tie my shoe...
 
hollydolly said:
No-one was with me for the whole 3 days I was in Labour , my ex husband was at Sea with the Royal Navy.... he couldn't get compassionate leave until the following Saturday...

One of my sisters had a caesarian.... her ex husband ''the woose'' was with her.. and he got so upset and hysterical he locked himself in the toilets.. the nursing staff had to beg him to come out...:oops::oops::cautious:...good thing he wasn't at my natural birth.. he'd probably have cut his throat..
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"compassionate leave" :LOL: That's so British.

Typically American is that we called it "maternity leave" and then stood in a daze when someone asked "But what about the dads?"
 
hollydolly said:
No-one was with me for the whole 3 days I was in Labour , my ex husband was at Sea with the Royal Navy.... he couldn't get compassionate leave until the following Saturday...

One of my sisters had a caesarian.... her ex husband ''the woose'' was with her.. and he got so upset and hysterical he locked himself in the toilets.. the nursing staff had to beg him to come out...:oops::oops::cautious:...good thing he wasn't at my natural birth.. he'd probably have cut his throat..
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Took awhile, but you mean he was a WUSS? :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
Murrmurr said:
"compassionate leave" :LOL: That's so British.

Typically American is that we called it "maternity leave" and then stood in a daze when someone asked "But what about the dads?"
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Nowadays it's called Paternity leave and women get around 9 month to One year paid Maternity leave after the child is born.. and the fathers get 2 weeks..

None of that when I had mine..
 
Murrmurr said:
Yeah but the guy is the one watching. She doesn't have a good view of what's happening. If she did, she'd probably strangle you soon as she could.

Fathers weren't allowed in delivery rooms when my kids were born. I watched a few of my g-kids be born, though. Well, kind of. The first one taught me when it was a good time to check the floor, look at my watch, tie my shoe...
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wonder why ...! You're the same age as me Frank.. and the guys were allowed in the delivery rooms when my sister and I were giving birth ( in the 70's )... I was the only one out of them who had no-one there..
 
Do you have male midwives in the US? They're rare in the UK, but there's nothing to stop male nurses applying to train as midwives.
Before anyone says it's midWIFE, bear in mind that it derives from the old English mid wif - literally, with the woman - someone who assists a woman through pregnancy and childbirth. Not sure what Mrs L would have thought about a male midwife, but I have no issues with seeing a female GP or surgeon.
 
Capt Lightning said:
Do you have male midwives in the US? They're rare in the UK, but there's nothing to stop male nurses applying to train as midwives.
Before anyone says it's midWIFE, bear in mind that it derives from the old English mid wif - literally, with the woman - someone who assists a woman through pregnancy and childbirth. Not sure what mrs L would have thought, but I have no issues with seeing a female GP or surgeon.
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Yes.. I had a male nurse-midwife for the birth of my last child.
 
Ken N Tx said:
#7 Great Grandchild on the way!!Come June..
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Now you're just making me jealous, Ken. My son has no wife or children and my brothers married, but had no children, so our line ends here. I keep hoping some desperate young woman will leave a baby on my doorstep.
 

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