I just want to jump in on this to give a H viewpoint. Please please please don't think I'm comparing the H and W parts of child birth though just want to explain it from my perspective.
For both my kids my W labour was over 40 he's. I was there the whole time. For me the whole experience was massively emotional and I had a couple of short naps in an uncomfortable chair while the painkillers were at their best.
Now through this I also had a bunch of fears to contend with, what if something happens to my wife, what if the baby isn't OK, what if Im made to choose.
At the same time a woman in labour can be a fairly fraught roommate so I got some serious grump directed at me. All perfectly understandable and fine but makes the experience a but stressful for us guys to - and we react in different ways to stress.
When my second was safely born and everyone was ok , I nearly feinted at the sense of relief - I had to get some fresh air. I was gone 3 minutes. My wife has since said that at this point she felt like I'd abandoned her.
I suppose what I'm saying is that the whole situation is stressful on us guys too and we don't always do a great job of dealing with that but it doesn't me we don't care or that we aren't incredibly proud.
Both mid 30s, 2 young kids BD 7sep14 XW moved on long ago, now living with OM1 D paperwork in progress
