We all know that the delivery room is really hectic. On the one hand you’re finally going to meet your baby. On the other, GOOD LORD — you're having a baby! Typically, when we think of childbirth, we think of what the mom's going through, but a recent Reddit post asked men to describe their experiences in the delivery room and the answers ranged from downright hilarious to incredibly sweet.
Right away some men admitted what women have always known — childbirth is not for the weak.
"We had a c-section, it was surreal to see my wife sliced open, inners pulled out of the way, AND SHE'S TALKING TO ME! Doc let me take pics," wrote one commenter. "The worst part was she told me to stay with the baby. Until she could be reunited with her mom, then I got word my wife's blood pressure was dropped dramatically and was conflicted but decided to trust the nurses with my daughter for a bit. Eventually the docs got her pressure up and honestly it probably wasn't a big deal, but it was a big deal to me."
"It was fine, but hectic," another commenter added. "You are there to provide support for your partner. Be calm and collected. Videotaping and taking pictures is only a secondary role and only if you have time. I had to catch a baby as it came out since the nurse and doctor were not in the room at the time. You need to run [interference] and get things that are needed for partner. If the nurse or doctor tells you to get something that is not in the room. It is [their] way of saying you are in the way and are not being helpful."
A third commenter put it simply: "It’s disgusting, the sounds and smells … Am I glad I was there? Yes. Did I enjoy it? Hell no."
Other dads thought the whole experience was totally cool.
"My firstborn was born on my birthday. My main memory is my exhausted wife turning to me after the baby was born and saying 'Next year you get an ice cream cake,'" one commenter recalled.
"I got to deliver my youngest son believe it or not. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life," another person added.
"Today is my first born's birthday, 29 years ago today I still remember. I grabbed him, I held him, I cut his cord, he p—–ed on me. I thought 'now im a dad… I have to be better now,'" someone else shared.
Some men shared that for a moment they thought the worst was going to happen.
"My wife and daughter almost died," a commenter wrote. "Major shoulder dystocia. Code pink. Violent emergency c-section. Witnessed successful resus on my daughter. Mom needed 4 unit transfusion. I’m a paramedic and this still majorly f—ed me up."
"Emergency c-section. Kid came out not breathing and heart not beating. Everything is happening so fast and everyone in the room knows what's going on except for me. 1/10 do not want to do that again," someone else wrote.
"Wife almost bled out — she kept telling me to make sure my daughter was ok and all I could think about was I may only have another minute with my wife," another person added.
But most men agreed: Childbirth is totally amazing.
"I was right there when my daughter was born. I was the first person she saw. It was the best experience of my life," one person wrote.
"Beautiful, when my wife was pushing for some reason the nurses left. She started contracting again so I told her friend to grab her leg and I grabbed the other and told her to push like the nurses did, the nurses came back and didn't interfere and I ended up helping her deliver our daughter," another dad commenter chimed in.
"First and only time I cried out of happiness," a third commenter added. "And it's burned into my memory which doesn't happen very often."
Now we know: New dads can be just as emotional as moms are when it comes to having a baby.
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
