How much should a man be involved in his child's birth?
A leading (British) obstetrician (Michel Odent) believes that when a woman goes into labour, her partner should stay far away. He says the presence of a father in a delivery room is not only unnecessary, but also hinders labor.
Having been involved in childbirth for 50 years, and having been in charge of 15,000 births, he feels a man's presence is a hindrance, and a significant factor in why labors are longer, more painful and more likely to result in intervention than ever.
As for the effect on a man - well, he claims a friend told him that watching his wife giving birth had started a chain of events that led to the couple's divorce. (For many men, the emotional fallout of watching their partner have their baby can never be overcome.)
The expert is more and more convinced that the participation of the father is one of the main reasons for long and difficult labors. And there are a number of basic physiological reasons for this.
~~ First, a laboring woman needs to be protected against any stimulation of the thinking part of her brain - the neocortex - for labour to proceed with any degree of ease.
This part of the brain needs to take a back seat and allow the primal "unthinking" part of the brain connected to basic vital functions to take over. A woman in labor needs to be in a private world where she doesn't have to think or talk.
~~ Yet, motivated by a desire to "share the experience", the man asks questions and offers words of reassurance and advice. In doing so, he denies his partner the quiet mind that she needs.
~~ The second reason is that the father's release of the stress hormone adrenaline as he watches his partner labor causes her anxiety, and prevents her from relaxing. No matter how much he tries to smile and appear relaxed, he cannot help but feel anxious. And the release of adrenaline is contagious.
It has been proven that it is physically impossible to be in a complete state of relaxation if there is an individual standing next to you who is tense and full of adrenaline. The effect of this is that, with a man present, a woman cannot be as relaxed as she needs to be during labor, and hence the process becomes longer and more difficult.