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Lulu made me wonder in another thread...
Where was your dad while your mum was giving birth?
I remember my Grandma asking me when I was telling her Charlotte had been born whether Daryl had been nervous while he was walking the hallway waiting for hr to be born...I had a giggle.
Was he there, not there, told ot leave?
Did he faint, or was he a fabulous support person?
My dad was apparently in the staff lounge with the doctor eating steak and jelly when Iwas born...lol
He was at the pub :doh:
at work!
... Alexis OMG that's funny :ROFL:
All i know is my Mum was in the hospital bed & Dad was told to go home with my older sister, Mum was reading the Post magazine having a glass of orange juice with crushed ice then she got a urge to push & by the time she pressed the buzzer for the nurse to come, the nurse just caught me in time ... not bad effort seeing Mum was in labour for 36hours :rolleyes:
Oh yeh also, Mum told me when she was pregnant with me the Doc thought she was carrying twins (turned out i had broad shoulders for a 7lb bub) ... Mum said oh well better go buy two of everything as Dad was getting ready to pass out at the thought of twins ;)
sadly mine was at work for mine and my sisters birth . but my dh was right there by my side for both mine ... brave man ... he even took my placenta home in a bag ... thats huge for a sqeamish man like mine :)
He was there and he cut the cord. It was the first birth in my mum's family that a male had ever been present for.
My dad apparently ate the roast lunch they'd brought in for my mother.
This is scary since my DH also ate the roast lunch they brought in for me.
What is it with roast lunches and women in labour? You'd think they'd come up with some more suitable menu options! LOL
No idea i was being born ;)
Um seriously thought I believe he was there but mum had an emergancy c section and I think he fainted lol! Will have to ask mum later......
(MD ... how funny as my DP couldn't wait to get his hands on the lemon pudding they wheeled into the labour room only moments after my giving birth ... he asked with hesitation if i wanted it and i said "Um, oh yeh i'm the one that just gave birth so I AM having it ", LOL ;))
The doctors/nurses told my Nan & Dad to go have lunch as there would be a while yet...so they did...and so i came lol. They missed the whole thing. Guess i was just too shy to come out with all those people watching haha
he was watching cricket with the nurses in the nursing station LOL
My dad was taking photos of me coming out...those photos are very well hidden. So well hidden that I don't think they even know where they are. I've seen the photos.
When my little sister was born my dad was down the business end catching her.
I was born at the Mater Mothers in Brisbane. My Dad was a truckie and when my Mum went into labour he was on his way to do a 12 hour trip. So he dropped her off at the bottom of the hill along with her suit case, wished her luck and said goodbye. Around 14 hours later he returned but I still wasn't born , so he went to the pub to wait. He returned a few minutes before I was born and was allowed in to witness me being born...My poor mum was only 18 years old andlaboured all by herself. What a champ
I am pretty sure he was either at work, at a pub or in some tramps bed. My father wasn't exactly 'father of the year' material. He hated me because i wasnt a boy.. my parents were told in the ultrasound that i was a boy but when i was born i was a girl...
My dad was playing hockey!
My Dad was there when I was born. He was the first person to hold me, mum said she held her arms out for me, but they passed me to my Dad instead! Apparently he was paranoid about me being labelled wrong too, so he made sure to supervise when they took me out of the room to be weighed and tagged! Now I make DH do the same thing, JIC :lol:
Ha! My dad was busy laughing at my Mum who was high on Gas (he still laughs about it) until he saw my head at which point he hit the floor! Nurses were fanning him to come around and in the meantime poor Mum was like "HELLO, what about ME" :) When Mum got dropped off home with her new bundle of joy, Dad knicked off to work!
Sleeping,
he had been doing night shift at a hospital the night before. I came 6 weeks prem though so I s'pose its a good excuse on his behalf.
Heehee, I'm the youngest of 6 kids and he wasn't there for any of them. So when it came time for me to be born, the doc (same 1 for all 6) hand cuffed my dad to the bed while I was being born. Aparently, he saw me slide out and he hit the floor as they say. Minutes later he was booked in to have his vasectomy (sp?) so he was off doing that while I got my 1st feed, weighed ect.
Mine was there. Wasn't happy as mum had to be rushed off to a bigger hossy coz I got stuck (still don't understand how?) & almost punched his bro!
Unc walked in, asked if I was here yet (all of 13!) Dad told him where to go & pushed past him to the door so he could jump in the car & follow the ambulance!
My dad was there. I was something like the 12th baby to be born at the Women's Birth Centre here in Melbourne. Although it was different then, mum still had her Ob (who is also my Ob ;)), and then checked into Frances Perry after the birth! Now that would be my ideal situation! But I digress......
Dad was there, he was very insistent on a drug free labour, and mum (although a little less set on the idea) felt much the same way. So mum laboured for 30 hours, only having some gas at the end. When I finally came out (posterior) Dad decided he was the one who felt faint, and mum felt a bit like 'what about me?'. This seems to be a recurring theme in this thread :rofl: TBH, although he was there for the whole thing, it doesn't sound like he did much, but I guess it wasn't the norm for dads to be at the birth then (although not unheard of), so no one probably thought of what they could do to help. I'm so glad things are different now, I feel we are very, very lucky! My DH was simply brilliant, marvellous birth support. Can't imagine doing it without him.
ETA Great thread Alexis :)
organising the neighbours to watch my brothers.
I was the last so Dad was going to be there, but I came 2 hrs after Mums first contraction so he just didn't get there in time.
He was sent home - "Nothing will happen today Mr Smith" and I was born soon after.
My dad left my mum when she was 6 months pregnant with me - with her best friend. He left my mum and my brother. Mum had a c section and dad was no where to be seen. One of his brothers located him and told him I had been born he drove all the way from somewhere is QLD to bega non stop to see me. They got back together not long after but I dont know why they bothered, he ran off again with a different chick this time. Mum nearly died while pregnant with me from all the stress. Needless to say my dad and I dont have much to do with each other.
My DH was there for the birth of Georgia and he cried and cried from the time they said they could see her head, he is such a wonderful man and I love watching his relationship delvelop with Georgia something I never had and never will have.
I have no idea what he was doing or if he was there or not - I will have to ask mum next time I'm talking to her. I remember that with my second brother (3rd child - I'm the eldest) that we came home from school and Nan was there to greet us and I remember him dropping us off at Mum's cousins place while he took Mum to hospital to have my sister (baby #4) and then came and picked us up to go see them so I assume that he was there with her while she had those two. I was only 2 when my first brother was born, but I distinctly remember him taking me to see them when he was born.
Ringing everyone to tell them Mum had gone into labour :)
My dad was with my mum when she had all 3 of us. He cut the cord and was the first person to hold us, even before Mum.
Mum had only just turned 16 when I was born and Dad was almost 17. He was at the movies with his mates and was highly embarassed as his Mum got them to stop the movie so she could go in to find him. I was already born by that stage but he wasnt a happy chappy about it.
He did manage to make it to my brothers and sisters births though.
My hubby missed our third sons as he was out having a smoke!!! I had been slowly labouring for ages after been induced and he was starting to get on my wick. I was only about 5cm when he said im going out for a quick smoke. I was quite happy for him to go, and as soon as he did I had two massive painful contractions and said to my midwife I need to push.
Three big pushes later and ds pops out. hubby came in just in time to cut the cord and I have never let him live it down.
Lucky he has given up smoking now so was there for Scouts birth and fingers crossed he had better be there for this one!
my dad was eating a nice roast dinner outside the room. I was born @ 6:30pm.
My dad was at work, mum had been in labour since the day before so he just left her at the hospital and went to work! Mum's brother rang the hospital at lunchtime to see if I'd been born and they said they couldn't tell him anything until dad knew so he rang my dad at work and said " E's had the baby! ring and see what it is" So dad called and found out then kept working until the end of the day and came up to the hospital that night!!
Working or at the pub... Or both :rofl: He was a detective so he was married to the job and then the pub! But I was born in 1967 so fathers in the labour room just wasn't the done deal back then...
Dad was at Ambulance training school, and to think last week he retired from being a paramedic 35 years later
Outside the room, no men allowed in those days.........i know with my 2nd sister (so birth # 3....) he was allowed in the room....and he fainted, missed my sister being born......:rolleyes:
Hmm, I would just like to point something out here.
Lots of us here have been rather taken aback when people like M Odent have pointed out that men don't really need to be at their childrens birth. He quotes several reasons for this - one of them is that he is has seen many many babies born as soon as the father is out of the room.
We have lots of daddys here that have seemed to need more help than their partners (fainting etc) as well.
Just some food for thought next time we all get indignant that someone suggests that daddys don't have to be present at their childrens birth....
My Dad got all stressed out cause of mums whinging in pain, so he had a go at her and went home and fixed the car! Mum ended up needing emergency c-section, Dad came in for that, when they pulled me out I had a really long head from traumatic labour and he freaked and thought Mum had given birth to an alien. Silly Mum went on to have 3 more babies with him
My Dad was pacing the halls because the doctors had told him that only one of us would survive...eithe Mum or I...not both. (Mum was almost in a coma due to Pre Eclampsia) so I was delivered by CS 5 weeks early....turned out we were both fine :) . Must have been stressful for Dad though.
I agree Lulu it is true.
I (as most of you know) believe that birth is Woman's business and I don't think not being in the room whilst your child is born makes a man any less.
My Dad was at home in bed sleeping when I was born! :o He had to get up at 6am to go to work so when my Mum called to say I'd been born at 2.37am he just said he'd be in to visit her after work that night and went back to bed! When my sister was born 3 years later my Mum insisted he be there. He was fine until he saw my sister pop out, then he freaked out so much they had to give him some of the gas to calm him down!! :lol:
My dad was home in bed asleep, LOL!! He was told to go home as nothing was going to happen until the next morning but I had much different ideas. I came out like a little rocket. The midwife just made it from the station.
My DH was right by my side the whole time through both my labours. My first labour I didn't listen to DH at all, poor bugger. I didn't mean to do it but that is just what happened but he never stopped trying or making suggestions. I love him for that.
Second labour he was the most amazing support person and talked me through every single contraction and was my focus point the whole time. He never left my side no matter what position I made him get into. I honestly couldn't have done it without him. I credit my drug free labours to my DH because he got me through.
I'm all teary now. I think I need to tell him this.
my dad was waiting outside cos mum had a c/s with me four days after her waters broke when nothing had kicked labour along. dad had signed the consent forms the night before for early morning c/s and was scared stiff the Ob would still be as drunk as he was that night so was standing guard! i wasn't born til after 2pm, so i think the Ob must have needed more time to sober up lol. mum was caesered under a general so dad got to hold me first, which she was fine with. she wasn't so fine with being taken back to the room and finding my nana (who, at the time, mum wasn't close to) holding me!
my DH was with me for as much as he could be - i was given gels on Tues night while he was still at work so he called in on his way home (about 1am) just to spend some time with me and see how i was going, went home to bed, spent the next day with me (was supposed to be put on the drip but cervix unfavourable so more gels) went home that night, then was there for the whole time i laboured the next day and into the next morning. he was a fantastic support and i think my experience (c/s etc) would have been a negative one had he not been there to support me. having said that, for the last 10 hours, i also had my SIL in there with me. DH wasn't and isn't a nervous person so that strength rubbed off onto this very anxious chicky! he was there while c/s was performed and between him and a VERY understanding (male) anaesthetist i managed to keep informed and calm while she was born.
and DH was good - he knew not to let ANYONE touch our poppet apart from him until i'd had cuddles (well, middies and paed were ok - but no family!) after what had happened with mum and me lol