Sorry, but that bloke who "delivered" the baby with the help of a 999 operator....

[beansprout]

... what exactly did he do?

Seems he is getting a lot of credit for basically being a bystander!!

Yes, but "woman planning homebirth has baby at home with useless husband, while midwife is stuck in rush-hour traffic" is a bit more to the point - he was never planning to be at the sharp end, was he?

Of course it wouldn't have been in the Guardian if he didn't write for them; but it wasn't news, it was the Family section, they probably plot that weeks in advance.

I liked it anyway. So there.

"(But then that's what blokes do, in childbirth. Even the ones who say We're Pregnant and/or We've Had The Baby, with stunning anatomical ignorance.)"

Oi, I'll have you know I massaged DW's back so much that my thumbs hurt.

Stick that in yer gas and air and smoke it.

Nice to see her breastfeeding at the end though.

My friend had her second baby in the black cab on the way to the hospital delivered by her DH and the cabbie. Between contractions she shouted instructions at them both as they were being clueless. She ended up shouting "take my knickers off" to the bemused 50 year old cab driver.

I do think "we're having/we've had a baby" is acceptable (presuming the Dad is intending to be involved in bringing it up).

"We're pregnant" is just plain odd.

Ohhh, they're going to meet the operator - the London Ambulance Service is setting it up - that'll be nice (from Little's link)

Leo, if you're reading this, you can flip these threads so that they read from the top down you know

dh gazed out of the window and exclaimed of the wonderful sunrise..... then pulled the most awful face when I told the midwife I needed to poo.

Bless 'em - it's such hard work being a birthing partner.

Can I just ask a question(sorry if it has already been asked or if we are talking bout the wrong story)

Why did it take 5mths to get on the news?

It was in Guardian Family section on Sat 15th, pb - just another feature, not real news.

(But now it's been picked up by news progs)

this was in our local paper today. "The rhubarb crumble is in the fridge" as she was being carted off made me LOL .

Although I will concede to great affection for Mr Inferior, he wasn't really much use during my two experiences of childbirth. He did try to rub my back at various points but during the first one it then turned out that the baby was in distress and we were rushed into the operating theatre, and during the second one I just snarled irritably at him and got on with the business of trying not to poo on the sofa.

I read this article (which wasn't trying to pretend to be news as others have said) and finished it with tears in my eyes. But I have to say I think that Leo himself was fairly useless, and it's the operator who deserves all the attention. The best bit was when he ran on to the landing and randomly shouted for his mum (or wife's mum, can't remember which) who was looking after the other two kids and then ran back in to the room. I had visions of this guy sort of dancing about flapping his arms like Basil Fawlty.

Excellent pic in my head now MissM.
My dp was wonderful during my dd's birth as he was only other person,except the midwife,in the room.He talked to me,told me he loved me and after a while told me that he had made the decision to have the snip.I had been in pain for 4 days and found this the best news ever
He read the paper and just meandered around the room while I swore at my mother and told her that she....well let's just say I was angry with her at the time for telling me not to make to much noise.
He helped when he could but as we were both only 17 at the time I suppose thats not to bad

Whenever the subject of dd's birth is brought up, my 36 hour labour followed by emergency c-section is as NOTHING compared to dh's suffering, having had to sit in an uncomfortable chair with nothing to eat but a sandwich in all that time, while I was 'getting to have a lie down'...

The minute dd was safely out of me, he then informed me he was going home as 'there's nothing more I can do, and I really need to sleep now' , then went straight back to work the next day as 'well, you're stuck in hospital, there's no point in me taking any leave now, is there?' (how I didn't divorce him at that point I shall never know!).

Well during my labours my Dh was ...erm....there. I think

He did a bit of fretting, a bit of telling me to breathe and listened to some football on the radio. He said it was 90% boredom, 10% terror...bit like being in a war.

My DH was just relieved that the baby arrived 5 weeks early so he didn't have to sit in the labour room during the World Cup last year

I had a baby in a car with the emergency services on the other end of the phone. DH & I couldn't believe all the fuss over this story - they were indoors FFS, not in a busy street with the world & his wife looking on!

I was confused about the 'newsworthiness' of this as well, if it happens once a week and the baby is 5 months.

I read the article which I enjoyed, but then suddenly they seemed to be on the news everywhere and GMTV and everything, which I thought was a bit over the top.

Wow scamp!! That's really something!!

I know!! I was in the local paper & a couple of other things. My neighbour introduces me to people as "the woman who gave birth in the street".
I was on my way to hospital but events just overtook me
DH flapped a bit, but considering he won't even watch Holby City 'cause he thinks it's too gory he did really well. My first labour he pissed me off by eating chicken sarnies (poor bloke - he'd had no tea!) & then he really messed it up by trying to massage me...I would have bitten his hand off if I hadn't been gnawing my own at the time.