The Public Weighs in on Delivery-Room Dads
Posted on 11. Jun, 2010 by Brian Reid in Uncategorized
The folks at Jezebel were nice enough to re-publish my piece on dads in the delivery room last night. The discussion has been interesting, with a couple of different camps. First, you have the group that think I’m dead wrong to suggest that this is any sort of imperative:
How about you leave it up to the mother instead of telling her how it “should” be done? If I were delivering today, I would by no means want anyone in the delivery room with me except the doctor/nurses. I may well change my mind when the time comes (I’m not pregnant yet!) but if I don’t change my mind, I don’t want to be guilted about leaving my husband or parents out of the process. The father has the next 2 decades to parent the kid; not being present for the first moment is not going to get his dad card revoked.
The second group is just as confused as I that this is even a topic of debate:
My husband and I are not planning to reproduce. However, if we did, and he were not in it for the conception and the delivery, I would kill him. If I have to do all of it, he at least has to watch. That’s how you gain appreciation.
Anyway, good stuff … they’re at 332 comments and counting over there, so if you feel you need to weigh in, there are plenty of people ready to disagree with you.
Erik
15. Jul, 2010
I was in the delivery room when my son was born. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. My wife’s Labor was 20 hours long, and fairly difficult, ending in an episotimy. Afterward she was so out of it that I was the only one who could speak for her or the baby( such as my near brawl with a nurse over giving my child formula). I couldn’t imagine someone not wanting the father present.