Why didn't you say so?

[u/TheNectarineDiaries]

Best medical advice I ever got was to bring a man to your appointments

[u/Radiant_Risk_393]

Why do they love to try to send us home? I think I appeared too calm and polite when admitted because the midwife made a lot of fuss about me being at hospital too early until my husband got her to check me. I was 5cm dilated and had a baby less than three hours later

[u/ilanallama85 → u/Radiant_Risk_393]

When my mom went into labor with my brother, her waters broke almost immediately so they hopped in the car and drove the 45 minutes to the hospital, by the time they arrived she was in active labor. She told them that, my dad told them that, they didn’t believe them on either count (waters breaking so early, being in active labor so soon) and we’re all “oh calm down, you’ve got plenty of time…” My mother said the nurse went white as a sheet when she finally took a peek. 9 cm dilated, baby was delivered less than 30 min later. Total labor time: 2 hours 15 minutes. She still gets angry about it if it comes up. He’s 37.

[u/HeckMonkey → u/ilanallama85]

She still gets angry about it if it comes up. He’s 37.

When I did neonatal classes, one of the things that stuck with me was learning that moms remember their birth stories (good or bad) decades later. Like it's seared into memory. As a guy I didn't really know that - my goal after that was to make sure my wife didn't have one of those nightmare stories no matter what. And she didn't! Her birth plan was "give me all the drugs" and that's what she got.

[u/cyanraichu → u/HeckMonkey]

Hell, one of the things that motivated me to go into L&D as a professional field is my mom's birth story with me, which was very traumatic and poorly handled. I've talked to her about it a lot and it kinda blows my mind.