12 Fathers Reveal How It Really Felt To Watch Their Wives Give Birth

“Never felt more useless in my life, not much you can do in that situation except hold their hand and encourage them. Also looked physically impossible.” — TwoSheds84

“Stressful for sure. And the hours leading up to that weren’t pleasant. Labor and childbirth is a long uncomfortable and painful and scary process and watching my wife go through it wasn’t the most fun. But luckily the baby was healthy and beautiful, wife was pretty much fine, so a lot of relief with the joy of the new baby.” — Ok-Control-787

“I saw a strength in my wife I don’t think either of us knew she had. Was an incredible experience, and I was so proud of my wife and child. I’m glad they still keep me around.” — Druzl

“Besides being a wonderful experience, at one point I realized I was the only male in a room with 8 other women, all of whom were totally tuned in to what was happening. I had a profound sense of irrelevance.” — Wisebutt98

“The amount of respect and admiration you feel, knowing you’d be a fucking baby about it, is pretty profound.” — Tooth_Revolutionary

“Impressed with her. There was a memorable moment when she was receiving the epidural. A needle is in her spine on the third attempt and she started a contraction. this epidural doctor had a bit of an attitude. He snaps at her and said, ‘YOU NEED TO RELAX’ because he screwed up the first two attempts. The nurse snapped back, ‘She’s having a contraction, you idiot.’ My wife’s face never once changed or gave any indication. Her willpower was holding her body completely still. Not a groan, cry, tear, or sound of any kind.” — psgrue

“Amazingly beautiful and something I will never forget. Women are easily the stronger sex. That being said, I never want to see another birth again.” — 1ScareCrowBoatfan

“Pretty fucking dramatic was what it was like. I honestly had a hard time getting over the fact that I felt responsible for hurting my wife. The doctors are not gentle during the process and I was not expecting the sheer amount of physical labor they were doing or inflicting on my wife.” — liar_rabbit

“Mixture of fear and awe for me! Lastly obviously I was very very proud of her.” — DesertsBeforeMains

“Barbaric. I felt the awe of ancestral realizations; I was taking part in the most basic human ritual, joining the rhythmic dance of humanity and spirituality. I was deeply moved from that moment and continually on.” — SnoSlider

“No man appreciates the difficulty and stress a woman goes through delivering until they see it. No man. I thought I did. You don’t. But when you see it, you never fail to appreciate it. Truly one of the craziest most difficult painful things a human can do.” — PacifistWarlord

“I would trade places with her if I could. If it’s death it better be me than her. My love, I love you more than you would ever imagine though I do I love that little human who appeared magically out of your hoo-hah just a tad bit more.” — bhau-saheb