Men In The Labour Room: Men's Guide to the Delivery Room Experience
()
About this ebook
Obviously you cannot know exactly what it feels like to carry and birth a new-born; however, you can learn as much as possible about all the stages of pregnancy, labour, delivery, and new-born bonding. Perhaps once you understand the prenatal class basics you might start having doubts about how you will be able to handle it all. Try to set those uncomfortable thoughts aside. Studies show that men are more likely to get and stay involved in the care and nurturing of their children if they are present at the births. So what's a man to do? If you're the father to be, you have probably heard the horror stories.
It's like a pain you, as a man, can never know. Research shows that when a woman has a supportive birth partner, this reduces her need for pain-killing drugs and increases her satisfaction with the birth experience. This also can reduce her stresses and worries about being a mother and make her more confident after the baby is born. Having a familiar face can be very reassuring. There are many things you can do to help the momma to be along the way to becoming a full-fledged mother. You may be confused – especially when things start getting a little frantic – and they will! With the help of this book, you'll be much more prepared for the birthing experience.
Read more from Anthony Ekanem
The Sex She Will Die For: How to Satisfy a Woman in Bed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Body Building Secrets Revealed Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Cost Per Action Cash: Make Cash Online with CPA Marketing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sex Tricks Every Man Should Master: How to Become an Unforgettable Lover Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Get Your Ex-Lover Back Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiving With Dignity: How to Treat People as You Would Like Them to Treat You Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Profit from Google AdSense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Identifying Business Opportunities: A Guide to Choosing a Suitable Business Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Value of Business Outsourcing: How to Do More in Less Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDyslexia: How You Can Overcome It Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Act of Infidelity: How to Know a Cheating Partner Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDealing with Anger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Work-from-Home Business Ideas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCash Building Strategies: How to Earn Regular Income Online Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Online Business Models Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Power of Humility: How Being Humble Can Help You Succeed in Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Next Generation Network Marketing: The New Rules of Network Marketing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYou Can Make it Happen: How to Stop Making Excuses and Achieve Your Goals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsE-Zine Publishing Mastery: How to Publish Your Own Online Newsletter for Profits! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Budget for the Family Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Find True Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOvercoming Addictions: Your Road to Success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Lose Belly Fat Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYour Road Map to Success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCareer In Journalism: A Beginner's Guide to Becoming a Journalist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMoney Saving Tips: How to Spend Less and Save More Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarriage Saving Tips: How to Put the Spark Back into Your Marriage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDefeating Drugs and Death: How to Stop Drug Addiction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEffective Copywriting Techniques: The Ads That Sell Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Men In The Labour Room
Related ebooks
Stork Talk: Delivering Strategies for Your Ideal Birth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNurture for the Nurturer: A 12 Day Meditational and Technical Guide for Breastfeeding Mothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Giggle More, Worry Less: A Pediatrician's Thoughts for New Parents Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Can Breastfeed: Visualize Your Way to Breastfeeding Success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBaby & Me: The Essential Guide to Pregnancy and Newborn Care Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBody Belly Soul: The Black Mother's Guide to a Primal, Peaceful, and Powerful Birth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrivileges of Birth: Constellations of Care, Myth, and Race in South Africa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Anxious Parent's Guide to Pregnancy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPerinatal Mental Health: A Guide for Health Professionals and Users Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Midwife in My Pocket: Pregnancy, Birth, and Life with a New Baby, Told as It Really Is Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Parent's Guide to the Late Preterm Infant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHolistic Pregnancy Manual: Maternal Health Manuals, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForced Labor: Maternity Care in the United States: Pergamon Studies in Critical Sociology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRenaissance of Birth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Comfort in Birth Method; A toolkit for doulas & mamas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAttachment Parenting: Advice, Tips and Solutions for Caring for Your Baby Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSupporting a Physiologic Approach to Pregnancy and Birth: A Practical Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreast Feeding: Breastfeeding Guide and Breastfeeding Essentials for New Mothers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShadow Mothers: Nannies, Au Pairs, and the Micropolitics of Mothering Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHolistic Postpartum Manual: Maternal Health Manuals, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYou Are Not Alone: A Book of Hope for Parents Dealing with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMothering Twins: From Hearing the News to Beyond the Terrible Twos Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsParental Proverbs for Instructional Living Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInterrogating Pregnancy Loss: Feminst Writings on Abortion, Miscarriage and Stillbirth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShowing: What Pregnancy Tells Us about Being Human Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Little Book For Infant Potty Training From 0-12 months onwards Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fourth Trimester Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFreebirth Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Relationships For You
I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Book of 30-Day Challenges: 60 Habit-Forming Programs to Live an Infinitely Better Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex: Creating a Marriage That's Both Holy and Hot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries Workbook: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5She Comes First: The Thinking Man's Guide to Pleasuring a Woman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ADHD Effect on Marriage: Understand and Rebuild Your Relationship in Six Steps Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Codependence and the Power of Detachment: How to Set Boundaries and Make Your Life Your Own Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2-7 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Covert Passive Aggressive Narcissist: The Narcissism Series, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Your Brain's Not Broken: Strategies for Navigating Your Emotions and Life with ADHD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5ADHD: A Hunter in a Farmer's World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet: Discovering New Ways of Living When the Old Ways Stop Working Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries with Kids: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/58 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Loving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Makes Love Last?: How to Build Trust and Avoid Betrayal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Men In The Labour Room
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Men In The Labour Room - Anthony Ekanem
13
Chapter 1
Changing Roles
As we’ve said, not so long ago, the man’s place during child birth used to be in a smoke-filled waiting room holding a box of cigars awaiting the arrival of his child. Now the opposite is true. What brought about this change? It seems books might have had a role to play in this transformation.
In 1974, Robert Bradley wrote the book Husband-Coached Childbirth, in which he basically empowered men to take as crucial a role in the birthing process as their partner (albeit not physically, of course!). At the time, Bradley was both hailed as a champion for men's rights in the delivery room and criticized as someone who was trying to advocate controlling the woman.
Despite, or perhaps because of the controversy, the book 'gave birth' to the 'Bradley method' and a series of classes, still running today, in the USA.
Putting husbands in the delivery room not only coincided with feminism but was intimately wrapped up with the natural childbirth movement and its effort to see the modern body in a more holistic fashion.
The change also could have been brought about with cultural developments. Back in the 50’s and 60’s, it was an unspoken rule that men just didn’t go into the delivery room. However, in the 70’s and 80’s, men began questioning the medical status quo and took a more hands-on approach to child rearing and their rights to be present during their child’s birth.
The dissolution of the nuclear family also contributed to the change with fewer women around to take care of the expectant mother’s needs during childbirth. This naturally led to the man taking on that responsibility. Changing attitudes about pregnancy in general also brought more men into the delivery room. With more and more people having children without being married as well as the rise in teen pregnancy rates, the man in the delivery isn’t always the baby’s father.
Today, it is almost expected that the father be present for the birth of his child. It is increasingly uncommon for the man not to participate and help out in labour and delivery. Not all men embrace this, however. Some would prefer to go back to the waiting room. Some fathers, particularly first-time dads, feel apprehensive about seeing the woman they love in pain. Top concerns amongst expectant dads are embarrassing faux pas in the delivery room - fainting, feeling sick and squeamish and basically not knowing how to best support their partner through a potentially long and painful process. These doubts should be considered and respected by both you and momma-to-be. It's important to think about and discuss whether you want to be present and how you see your role during the pregnancy. It can be much more complicated than it first looks. You may both want to be together for the birth and feel very certain that this is the right thing for you as a couple. You may be concerned about whether you can cope with being at the birth as well as the intensity of labour.
You should also consider the possibility that your partner might not want you present throughout labour and birth because she doesn’t want you to see her in childbirth. She may feel that she wants to be free to focus only on herself and her needs. You might quite like the idea of being her ‘coach’, only to find she does not want you telling her what to do. Talking through these issues during the pregnancy can go a long way to avoid problems once labour begins. If you, yourself are unsure, talk with other men about their experiences in the delivery room and decide that way. Just keep in mind that everyone is different and one guy’s experience may not be the same as yours. Plus, if she wants you there with her, that may be your biggest deciding factor.
If you absolutely CANNOT see yourself being present for the delivery of the baby, consider a couple of alternatives. You can arrange to have another labour partner present so that if it all gets to be too much, you can leave the room either for a short time or until after the baby is born. You can choose to be present just for the labour or conversely just for the birth. You can also come in directly after the baby is born to celebrate the new