Tony's tip
When the mother of your child looks at you with a hateful look and screams, "You did this to me, it's all your fault!"
just remember what she really means is, "I love you and I'm so happy to be having your baby.
Paul’s story
It was four days after my wife's due date, George was still in no hurry to see the word. Up till now, the
pregnancy had been straightforward, but when we went to the clinic, our doctor was a little concerned about the size of the
baby.
So we were booked in for an ultrasound. The news was that the baby's head was very low and that it weighed
a manageable 8lbs ish, so far so good.
We checked in at the clinic where the registrar did a quick internal examination. “Good news you're
three centimetres dilated already. go home and if nothing happens overnight, come in tomorrow morning at nine,". So back we
went. Everything seemed to be going fine at home, and despite the fact she was three centimetres dilated, sarah wasn't in
any pain.
A couple of hours later she had some bleeding, and, staying close to the instruction in all the books, we
rang the hospital and before long we were there. Unfortunately, countless other couples seemed to have the same due date as
us, and it was like national birth weekend at the hospital. So it wasn't until early on Sunday morning that there was space
on the labour ward. It was a nerve-wracking few days and, although it seems incredibly selfish to mention it, I was shattered
with worry.
As time went on, Sarah started having mild contractions, gradually the contractions intensified, she decided
she needed an epidural. I just felt like a spare parts completely useless. Despite my feelings of inadequacy, the midwife
encouraged me to be as involved as possible. Not only did I offer words of support from time to time
George was born a whopping 8lbs 10oz: at 11:45 on monday. To my immense relief, he started to cry almost
immediately. I had just watched our son coming into the world, it was a fantastic, frightening, mid blowing experience
which I feel privileged to have witnessed. It wasn’t till about a day or so later that it finally sank in I'd become
a father.
