Husbands!

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I am a relatively new L&D nurse, I've had my share of patients where the husband or S/O was no longer involved, however, I had a new one today.. When the woman got to about 8CM her husband left and said he would be back after the birth, it was a planned decision.. he didn't want to see her in pain..

I'm having a baby soon and there's no way in hell I would let my husband NOT be there haha

Is this common?

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There are some men (and women) who cannot deal with pain, body fluids, etc. If the woman was not upset, maybe this was best for both of them.

You wouldn't want to have to pick him up from the floor!

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Specializes in OR, OB, EM, Flight, ICU, PACU.......

I did L&D for about 2 1/2 years, and I never saw that one! It usually was the opposite scenario: the reluctant husband being told- "You stay right here! You got me in this condition!"

Still funny after all these years.

Just my $.02.

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Haha! Exactly what I would be saying! I guess it's not based on certain ethnicities?

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

I've seen it a few times, usually with a non-American couple.

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Specializes in LTC, Memory loss, PDN.

Different strokes...I guess. All I can say is, the wife doesn't wanna be in pain either, but she doesn't have a choice, does she?

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My husband almost passed out:eek: One of the nurses had to sit him down.

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How times change - when I was a student nurse fathers were pacing the halls, denied access to most labor rooms and all delivery rooms!

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My husband was to afraid to see me in pain and the blood (even though he used to work in a slaughter house cleaning up after blood and guts there) he almost fainted while i was just in labor. Since he was and still is chicken i had my friend come into the room for all 3 of my c-sections (I still tease him to this day about it also, maybe thats why we have them)

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Birth has been a "women only" event in many cultures throughout history. Personally, if a man didn't want to be there because it's against his culture, or he thought he couldn't handle it, I wouldn't condemn him.

Now, if he left because he was too busy or didn't want to be bothered, I think a castration would be in order.

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Time was when a man never set foot into even the labor room.

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

I was of the firm conviction that if my husband got me into this, he was by golly going to help me get out of it too!

But some cultures don't believe birth is a man's domain, and prefer women be present for the delivery. Or Dad just may be afraid of the blood etc, although I've found that most guys do better than they think they will. Whatever works for them, I say.

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