Had a friend when I was a kid whose mom was... eccentric. Very hippie old lady who worked as a "tantric sex couples therapist". One time when I slept over I woke up and had to go pee. I bumped into the mom who was walking around the house completely naked and she hugged me and asked if I wanted a cup of tea, I was still half awake and said yes for some reason. When I came back from the toilet she was sitting with a photo album and asked me to sit down next to her so she could show "the birth of her daughter" (my friend). And the photos were incredibly explicit. My reaction was exactly like this comic, really not something a 13-year-old boy like me should see.
I'm lucky it didn't give me some birthing or pregnancy fetish or something, being at a prime age at the time for something like that to develop.
I saw my wife give birth, it was both gross and fascinating but mostly I was grateful that she went through that for us, so yeah I also thought it was beautiful.
I watched it on youtube once. "So cool" is about the last descriptor I would use. "Disgusting", and "fuckin nasty" are some of the words that came out of my mouth during that video.
I think you've got the glow of parenthood on that memory.
Nah, it was my friend's kid. I was there to support her. I've been the one giving birth before and it was just a blur of screaming and pain, but from the other side it was so cool. I'm not squeamish with blood and stuff so I could just focus on the fact that an entire person just popped out of my friend. What the fuck.
I'm a bit squeamish, so I arranged myself so as to be seated basically next to my wife's head, facing the wall, and was laser focused on holding her hand and maintaining eye contact with her.
Meanwhile, the delivering doctor was narrating a play by play as our kid went from just barely crowning to head fully out in three contractions, and then she just had to maneuver his shoulder free and he popped out on the fourth push. Three random things I will never forget from that night:
The doctor seeing the umbilical cord and announcing "That's a man that likes to eat!"
The doctor further complimenting my wife that she "rocked that thing out like it was her job"
One of the nurses looking into the hazmat bucket they'd packed the placenta into and muttering "Jesus Christ..."
My wife was super out of it on Epidural drugs during real labor, but I love telling her the sound of the blood hitting the floor after the baby came out.
It was baby then SPLOOSSHH. I'll never forget that noise.
Don't bail out on watching it. It really is fascinating to see.
But for sure don't prioritize watching over helping your wife out. Pushing on her upper back while she's pushing helped my wife out a ton. There was a clear difference in the baby's movement through the birth canal when I helped out.
But have fun! It's such a wild, exhausting time. Your wife is going to struggle so be supportive!
Sorry for the unsolicited advice, we had our first kid a couple months ago, so it's still fresh in my mind.
It's our first kid as well. Shitting bricks but I'm almost certainly less worried than her so I think my role is to basically support her as much as possible. Thanks for the advice!
