Thanks, Larry! It really is a flood of emotions, and ones that are hard to control. I hope the 4 of you that have shared encourages the other men of this site to do the same!

Red, I understand what you are saying, but it is a matter of great respect that the men are showing. They would do it if they had to, but they are all very relieved that we are the ones that go through it all.

Amen to that Ty's mom.
I keep trying to convince my friends who are moms that passing a kidney stone is God answering their prayers for equality when it comes to childbirth but so far haven't convinced any of them

Keep trying, Larry. I'm sure that someone will believe it eventually! NOT!!!

Larry....Think of it this way sweetie. God intended for woman to give birth and God intended for man to pass kidney stone...neither one of them can be "that" bad if our bodies are made for it.

Natural child birth for my first one, epidural for my second...within 5 minutes of each delivery when asked by my mother (my coach for both) if I'd do it all again...my answer was yes. Through the hardest of experiences we have on Earth...come the greatest rewards.

P.S. My mom said next time to find a new coach...she's got it down and thinks its somebody else's turn! LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Blindsky:
[qb] Larry....Think of it this way sweetie. God intended for woman to give birth and God intended for man to pass kidney stone...neither one of them can be "that" bad if our bodies are made for it. Through the hardest of experiences we have on Earth...come the greatest rewards.
[/qb]

You got a child, all I got was a rock!

Just like Christmas too Larry...if you're bad you get coal. LOL

Well my story can't top the others. I was in the military at the time, and stationed over-seas. I was coming home a week and a half before her due date. As I was in the airplane, my wife went into labor. Little did I know that this sort of thing (labor) doesn't follow the due date. So when I arrived, my parents met me at the airport and told me what happened. I went to the hospital and there my two little boys were. I was excited, upset and very nervous at the same time. I wished I had been there, but it was just one of those things.

This is cool! See, I knew there were some real men in the world! My son's dad was there the whole time, holding my hand as I was out of it- bad. Alex was 4 weeks early but still 7 lb, 4 oz. He's still a big boy. Megan's dad took 2 hours to track down, and that was after I got to the hospital. Two hours later, and only a little nubane 4 hours earlier, Megan was born 2 1/2 weeks early at 7 lb, 2 oz. My babies. I love them and would go through it all again if I could.

Well...you asked so I guess I'll try to remember...it's been more than 10 years though and it's a little difficult to resurrect those memories in a way that I feel like I'm expressing them honestly...

It was a week past my wife's due date, so little Bobby was scheduled for Dec. 19. We had moved more than 4 hours away from where we grew up and she wanted to be induced in time to travel to her family's house for Christmas. Her midwife didn't like that as a reason to induce and I couldn't picture traveling with our newborn son, but I let her believe that was the plan. She was 17, this was her first Christmas away from home, and this was her first Christmas as a mother. They started her labor at 11:00AM.

We were seriously odd kids...I remember her having some slippers with cow heads on them that I had bought her, as she had a thing for cows back then. I remember placing them on either side of her head and pretending to mad because they were kissing her. She smiled with her eyes closed, rocked her head from side to side, and said, "I can't help it...they just love me." I remember a machine being attached to her with our baby's heart rate on it and maybe his oxygen level. She was going to do the delivery without drugs. I remember we played a Scrabble game that we had picked up on the way to the hospital at Wal-Mart. I remember her not playing very well.

After 7 or 8 hours, she took the drugs. They missed the first time with the epidural and had to do it twice. Little Bobby started to come shortly afterwards, but his heart rate was dropping every time that he began to come out. The midwife quickly called a doctor. He arrived looking like he had just come from the golf course; I think he was wearing a shirt that said something bad about Bill Clinton. I followed as they wheeled her down the hall to a room that I couldn't enter. She was going unconscious and losing the pressure in her squeeze on my hand, saying over and over again that she was scared. I remember going into a narrow room with a TV in it and crying like a sissy.

I saw little Bobby when they they were putting him in a little crib surrounded by plexiglass with heat lamps above it. They let me wipe him and dry him, and I think the nurse used a big eye-dropper to $uck fluid from his mouth. He had a band-aid on his forehead from where they had hit him during the c-section. He had a little bit of blond hair and big feet. I remember putting my finger on his tiny palm and being happy when he closed his fingers around me. It was 7:30PM.

She stayed in the hospital for a few days. Many of the nurses were not nice to her...she didn't wear her wedding ring to the hospital as it hurt her finger at the end of her pregnancy, and some called me her "gentleman friend." Little Bobby was the first baby I ever held. I remember carrying him up and down the hosptial hallway, stopping at the Christmas trees there so I could watch the reflection of flashing lights in his eyes as he stared.

We must have played the Scrabble game two hundred times after we brought it home; she got much better at it. It was a great way for poor couples to pass time. I still have it, but now it's missing an "E".

Later,
Bobby

That was great bobby. Thanks you sharing

I just want to make sure I give Brae due credit. Her post is now being overshadow but Brae, you deserve credit here because you were the inspiration for this thread so thank you.

It's nice to see the bridge that is being built here.

Well to all the ladies out there, after witnessing the birth of my son I would have to say that that my respect for women and the endeavours of childbirth have been greatly enhanced " It was the scariest yet happiest moment of my life". My son had gotten lodged in the birth canal and all I heard was the doctor say" I will not lose this baby " and I passed out cold. When I came to I looked up at the bed and seen my ex sit up, grab the rails and "screamed I will not lose my baby" and after a couple of minutes of agonizing struggle and pain my son was born. Now when I hear men make jokes about women and childbirth and try pass off it's importance, I tell them my story.

Big Dave

Yes, that's what I was talking about when I said the motivation is extremely high.

You passed out? See ladies, don't think we just glide through that with you. Look at the size of that man. And he went down like a bag of cement.

LOL. I think I should leave this thread to you guys LOL