Once you have gone through the 9 months of pregnancy then its time for the birth which can be a scary time for us blokes.
I will never forget when my wife started labour, she did not want to go into the hospital until she absolutely had to and she kept telling me that its ok we are not going yet (I was doing a great impression of a headless chicken running round thinking I was getting stuff ready but having no idea what!).
We had the hospital bags packed (mums, dads and babies) and everything ready long before this day and all I had to do was load it in the car ready to go (a major effort with everything going on). I rang my dad to warn him that he would be required to come and look after the other two children, who by luck were in bed asleep and so we didnt have the worry of keeping them calm. As labour wasnt progressing too quickly my wife decided that we should try and get some sleep!!! So me being me I fell asleep and was woken at about 1:30 am to be told by my wife in a very calm quiet voice 'I think you had better get up now' - never in my life have I gone from totally asleep to wide awake in such a short time. I then thought I will have a look outside and it was as if the biblical flood was happening with the rain hammering down and a river running down the road. I rang my dad and he came over within about 10 minutes, in that time I was going through in my head all the options for if the roads were too flooded such as home birth, alternative routes, alternative hospitals etc.
We got in the car to go and I think then it hit me that in a few hours I would have a little baby to look after and I will admit to being scared.
The journey was eventfull with plenty of flooded roads but I convinced myself that my car could float and we got to the hospital within 30 minutes (not bad to say that when I tried it in the dry it took 25 minutes!)
When we arrived at the hospital it was like a ghost town, I managed to find a security guard asleep in the security office who spoke no english and pointed at a door.
Once we got in we were taken off to a room and they do all the tests and checked the heart beat etc (dont try understand what is going on at this point just make sure you stay with your partner and be there for her).
It all turns into a bit of a blur from this moment on with and dont feel as though you are being left out of it, the main focus is on mother and baby for a very good reason.
We were moved up to a delivery suite run by midwives and got the penthouse room which had its own birthing pool but no stirrups on the bed! (I was going to go for the scene out of Friends). This where it all slowed down and I was able to take in more of what was happening.
My wife was brilliant throughout the labour and she was truely amazing for going without any pain relief from start to finish, I will say that you do feel helpless while everything is going on but just remember to stay there and be there as this is very important (it doesnt matter if the football is on or F1 do not go anywhere! ignore everything else)
Once your baby/babies arrive you will be torn between your partner and your new baby, go with what your partner tells you - mine asked if I was ok???????????
Then its the cutting of the cord time, the only scissors they could find for this were the style that I used to have at playschool (the plastic kind) and the cord was not easy to cut but I wouldnt have missed out on doing that for anything.
You wouldnt believe the wave of emotions that sweep over you at this point, and you might well start to feel drained but that is nothing compared to how your partner will be feeling.
