“It Was Enraging And Sad”: Nurses Expose The Worst Dads They’ve Seen In A Delivery Room
Until recently, pregnancy and childbirth had to a large extent been viewed as the domain of women while men remained at the periphery. Men were mainly responsible for covering the medical bills and other material needs as well as naming the newborn. But things have been changing. For example, in the United Kingdom, men have been actively included in maternal and child health programs since the 1970s, and in Sweden and Norway, men's participation in maternal and child health has for a long time been emphasized in legislation.
However, being present and being involved are two different things.
"I have had multiple dads who literally will just game on their PS5 they brought with them when their wife [or] GF is crying in pain from labor," Reddit user and labor and delivery nurse u/nursingboi wrote. "One guy was telling his wife to not get an epidural because 'she doesn't need one', [and he] wasn't even sitting by her or comforting her, he was literally on his phone across the room."
"Also had a dad who just napped while his wife lost 2 liters of blood and had to be rushed to the OR for a potential D&C. And when we got back, his first question was, 'Can I get another blanket?'"
After sharing these experiences, u/nursingboi invited other frustrated health professionals to do the same and sadly, as their discussion shows, there's plenty of similar stories.
This post may include affiliate links.
I just get mad. Like, occasionally incandescent with anger. And it's not just during delivery. Since COVID, the amount of male partners who whine and complain about having to wear a mask during the prenatal appointments and during delivery just makes my head want to explode. Their partner is growing their child in their body, their organs are slowly being compressed, THEY ARE RISKING THEIR LIVES TO PRODUCE YOUR SPAWN, AND YOU CAN'T EVEN WEAR A TINY SQUARE OF PAPER ON YOUR FACE FOR 15-30 MINUTES BECAUSE IT'S NOT COMFORTABLE?????????
It's stuff like that and other things mentioned that makes me wish that the Huichol tradition of having the birthing person pull on a rope tied to their partner's s*****m during birth was a contemporary and common practice. If nothing else it would at least make sure they were physically present for the birth.
PSA: For those wondering, the censored word is “scròtum”. Remember, kids, proper anatomical terms are DIRTY WORDS!!! /s
I had a young dad, 14yo, who’d brought his gaming setup to the room and hooked into the tv. He came from a very upright black family and she was latina with a big loving family.
The dad sat in the recliner playing while I tried to do teaching. Finally, I’d had enough of the noise (and disrespect) so I kinda lost it. I unplugged his rig and told him his days of playing games all night and sleeping til noon were over. He was a father now and he needed to listen to what was going on. I’ll admit I was a little harsh but he’d been swinging his d**k all damn day.
Anyway, I look at the families and they look to the grandmas and they look at me and one says Praise Jesus! While the other one is too polite to laugh but her smile gives her away. It was a moment.
I made sure he sat in and reiterated teaching on birth control.
14YO dad???!!! At that age, the only thing I was knocking up was my mountain bike on rocky trails...
I had a mom on mag and she was so weak and tired. She literally asked to keep her catheter so that she didn't have to get up to use the bedside commode because she was so exhausted. I was trying to teach the dad how to make a bottle and change a diaper, but he looked at me and told me that was his wife's job. Like excuse me? This baby is yours too and she's obviously very sick.
I do postpartum. I just hand them crying babies and tell them what the baby needs. I have gotten a little attitude with many and they usually act a little better after being called out. But who knows what they’ll be like once they get home. You have to be direct and tell them exactly what they should be doing. Correct them if they have the wrong idea about something. Validate those moms.
And ladies- be careful who you let knock you up. There’s some real trash out there.
These stories makes me sad, these women don't have their partners help when they need it the most. Reminds me of my own story of giving birth to my son. I had his father with me but he kept making stupid comments and remarks that just upset me, i regret not kicking him out from the deliveryroom.
I got one that takes the cake recently. I work l&d. We had a PPROM at 20wand5d who was laboring. Pt was taking a nap and the FOB left for dinner or whatever. Pt woke up to use the bathroom and delivered her baby on the toilet. FOB nowhere in the hospital and wasn't answering her calls. Placenta was still in situ and pt was hemorrhaging. We give cytotec rectally, and hemabate to help placenta deliver. Hemabate can cause crazy diarrhea. So pt is s******g her brains out, bleeding excessively and painful and also just delivered her dead baby. FOB comes back, she tears into him but then he just sits in the chair and then asks the nurses for a warm blanket and a popsicle. Do you know how hard it is to not want to hit a “support” person?
Noted to add: her premature rupture was most likely due to a gonorrhea infection that she caught from said partner.
That poor woman, going through that kind of hell while having to deal with a so called partner who doesn't give a c**p.
Yea… mother-baby nurse here. I fortunately meet more good than bad, I think. Plenty of bad ones, though. I recently met a dad giving everyone the silent treatment because his wife’s emergency c/s made him late for his haircut. I used to get a sense of pleasure waking the particularly useless dads in the middle of the night to do something 😏
That has got to be some sort of a weird panic response like the " omg baby's coming now, we still needed to get the nursery ready, what if something goes wrong, and I even missed my haircut" and the panic brain gets stuck on the haircut, because it's the least scary part or something. Of course it can be that the dad to be is an American psycho wannabe, but my brain fixated on my lack of socks during a house fire, which was weird and not really useful looking back.
One of my midwives once kicked my ex's feet while he was having a nap during my labour and had a go at him for not supporting me.
I love that midwife 😂
I just took care of a 19 y/o postpartum c section mom for the last two nights. She has been up with the baby crying all night so tired and I have not seen her man awake ONCE in the two nights I took care of her. She even asked if one of the nurses could go to the lobby to pick up her door dash because she didn’t want to wake the dad. Absolute loser, made my f*****g blood boil.
I'm just thinking how awful it must have been for her when she and baby went home. You just know that she will be up doing all the night feeds and baby care during the day without any help from dad. I really hope she had a good support network because daddy is fkin useless.
Oh I do enjoy judging the c**p out of these people. My favorites include:
1) the first time dad who when I put his daughter in his arms, asked why we didn’t have HBO because Game of Thrones was on
2) the dad who was generous enough to bring in his 55” TV so he could play video games on it all night
3) the dad who grumbled at me when I would go in to help his wife with breastfeeding and I had to turn on the light so I could see what the hell was going on
sounds like these hospitals need to stop letting people bring in video games...it is disturbing to patients...that's good enouhg reason for a ban anyway
My brother in law slept through the birth of both of his children, would occasionally wake and complain about noise from the monitors/iv pump and smells. For several reasons he is one of the most despicable people I've ever met. Thank f**k his brother(my SO) is his absolute opposite.
His mother and I constantly tried to wake him, get him to hold his wife's hand, or just leave. Nope, he wanted to snore in the corner. Useless prick.
I work labour and delivery. Sometimes we have dads who are wonderful and so helpful, and come watch while I’m doing baby’s first head to toe assessment because they just wanna be involved… other times… I’ve had a dad leave while the mother of his children was being c-sectioned to “pop out for a smoke.”
One dad in particular kept calling his partner names like “fat cow”… we were close to kicking him out. Don’t forget, the mother and baby are our number one priority. It’s one thing if the support person is scared or ignorant because it’s their first baby, but if they’re making everyone uncomfortable and being downright verbally abusive, you CAN ask the mom if she wants them there, and ask them to leave accordingly.
You were close to kicking him out for calling her a fat cow??? No close about it. Out he goes!
I have had multiple dads who literally will just Game on their ps5 they brought with them when their wife/gf is crying in pain from labor. One guy was telling his wife to not get an epidural because “she doesn’t need one” , wasn’t even sitting by her or comforting her, he was literally on his phone across the room.
Also had a dad who just napped while his wife lost 2 liters of blood and had to be rushed to the OR for a potential D&C. And when we got back his first question was “can i get another blanket?”
It just is frustrating as f*ck lol, like why even show up if you are gonna do nothing? It like is INFURIATING To me.
My (now ex) husband couldn't shut up long enough about himself, and his needs, that the nurses sat him down in a chair and told him to shut up because he was being so distracting. What was his problem, you ask? He was so "squeamish" that he was afraid he was going to faint. He kept going on and on about how his body felt at every moment, and how he was afraid he was going to fall. He had to be taken into the hall during my epidural because he was having too much trouble with it. Completely freaking useless. He still is. He is such a selfish, spoiled baby, and wanted a mommy, not a wife. Our son is now 19 and has absolutely nothing to do with him.
During my OB clinicals a dad was on his phone as the baby was crowning. I kept looking back at him and trying to get him engaged. It was enraging and sad.
the WORST is when a call bell goes off so I go in the room and it’s a dad saying “baby pooped”. I go “oh, is this your first baby?” (if it’s their first baby and first diaper change I’ll ofc show them how to do it, or if it’s their first girl). the dads will be like “uhhhh no” and I’ll be like “ok! so do you need any more diapers and wipes?” and they’ll go “uhhhhh there’s some here” then I’ll go “ok great, you can go ahead and change baby then :)” and leave. I’ve also had babies cry when mom is eating, sleeping, or in the bathroom and the dad call bells like you said. I’ll go “well did you try holding him?” and they’re like “uh…no?” then I’ll bring baby to dad and it’s so clear they’ve never held a baby before, which is super sad when their babies are 12+ hours old
Just last Friday I had a 17 year old girl need a crash C Section at 33 weeks, baby got transferred to a different hospital since we don’t have a NICU, mom had to stay back for medical clearance
The dad looked 20/21 and he brought in his own TV and Xbox to play while mom was day 2 of recovery.
Mom was shaking any time we touched her, I had to hold her hand during fundal assessments while dad slept or played with his friends on the Xbox.
Part of me is like, what can I expect from a young dad, after all it’s babies having babies, but at the same time…that’s the mother of your child who nearly died needing to have a crash C section, AND your kid is in the NICU at another hospital.
If you're old enough to put your d**k there, you're old enough to take responsibility for the consequences.
I did birth doula work for a couple of years and definitely saw all that multiple times. Fathers literally playing video games on the recliner the. entire. time. In the moment it didn't make me mad so much as it made me really f*****g sad for mom.
I've also heard tons gross comments, like "are they going to stitch it tighter?" while mom gets sewn up after a tear. Or there's the dads that refuse to touch the baby before it's been cleaned. It's just... sad.
Serious question for my Pandas who have penises: can you tell? Like does it ACTUALLY make a difference, the level of “tightness” down there? Or is it just a nice experience regardless of the fit? I’ve read SO many “throwing a hot dog down a hallway” jokes/stories that I don’t know what to believe any more.
Work in NICU, had a dad stay overnight in the room with his baby per mom’s request, as to not leave the baby alone. He fell asleep on the couch, which whatever, it was like 0100. Baby randomly went completely apneic, bright lights went on, bagged baby, called for help, NP at bedside, prepped for intubation, portable CXR completed, RT set up the ventilator. There were like 6 staff members in the room at one point. Dad did not even stir, even though he was literally inches away from the chaos. Tried to wake him up, he answered me groggily and fell immediately back to sleep.
When he woke up 4 hours later he asked me what all the tubes, wires and machines were for.
When I sleep well, I don’t say I slept like a baby. I say I slept like a dad.
“Sleeping like a baby” is a dumb saying anyways. Has ANYONE here seen a baby sleep soundly through the night?
I once had a 20 yo patient having her first baby, scared sh*tless, being induced at 37 weeks because her baby had a cardiac anomaly. FOB was in the room but was sitting in a recliner in the corner on his phone all night; I showed him how to do counter pressure for her and he did it a couple times but then complained that he was tired so sat back down. So I came in a did it for hours until she decided she wanted the epidural. At one point FOB stepped out of the room without a word to do god knows what, she’s sobbing through her contractions and saying “he should be doing what you’re doing.” Breaks my heart every time I see s**t like this. Some people just should not be parents.
I witnessed 2 births during nursing school, the first one the dad was amazing. He held moms hand, coached and encouraged her the whole time. After baby was born he did everything and encouraged mom to rest and eat. The second birth, dad watched and then took some pictures and was immediately back on the couch on his phone playing a phone game. I went home that day and told my husband we would get divorced if he ever acted like the second dad. I wish I could get paid going around L&D/postpartum being mean to s****y dads and family members🙃
When I was in clinical I had one dad who actually told mom that she was lucky he was there because with his first kid (not with her) he wasn't even at the hospital. He just sat in the recliner watching some true crime show. MD did make small comment about the show choice but beyond that we all just side eyed him and just tried a few times to get him more involved.
Had a different dad who was young (not sure exactly age but id guess 18-20) who was somewhat more involved but as moms pain increased (had epidural but was getting close to crowning) he starting insisting that he was going to take her AMA because we were causing the pain. Luckily her mom showed up soon after and set him straight, told him he could shut up or get out.
On the other hand though, some of my sweetest moments were in L&D getting to watch the involved dads meet their baby. Of course sweet for anyone too but some of the best memories are a few dads who were enraptured immediately. One even was so worried to leave to grab something from the car (post-delivery mind you) that he asked if we were staying in there while he left so that mom/baby wouldn't be alone.
House sup here. Code blue called in L&D- very unusual so I was expecting something truly awful. It was called for new dad who passed out after using heroin in the waiting area bathroom. What an awful f****r!
I’ve struggled with drug addiction and I’ll be the first person to tell you that addicts are inherently selfish. But this takes the cake. Responsibility for another living being (child, parent, pet) is one of the few things that can force an addict to want to get help to quit. Rock bottom is one of the other few things. Sounds like this dad hadn’t hit either of those things. What a narcissistic doüche.
I don't deal with this type of dad a lot - most are either of the "well-meaning guy who makes jokes to alleviate tension but can't read the room" or "deer in the headlights but trying his best" variety. Both take direction well and usually want to be engaged. The "stares at the phone through each contraction" dad is my trigger. My oldest's father was like this when I had his baby. Playing tetris on his phone until midnight and then telling me to just get the morphine so I would be quiet and he could sleep. And this was back in the days of flip phones - looking at your phone for hours was super weird then. That was over a decade ago and I can still remember that feeling of being abandoned by the person I loved.
When I have a dad now who does that and he's the only support person with her, I give him a job. And then another one. Rub her back, get her ice, hell, arrange her toiletries in the bathroom! Anything to engage them in the present with the needs of their partner. I can't stand watching them zone out into apathy land. It makes me so sad.
Get your bingo cards out:
Dad complains about how long it’s taking (Free space)
Dad expresses disgust with breastfeeding
Dad requests a DNA test on a NICU baby clinging to life.
Dad sleeps through a hemorrhage or other medical emergency
Dad bullies his wife out of pain meds/epidural
Dad watching p*rn on his phone.
Is nobody going to ask, WHY THE FÚCK IS THE MALE GETTING ANY SAY IN ANY OF THIS?!?! It's her body, she's the patient!
I work postpartum and nothing drives me more mental than the men that constantly whine about how uncomfortable the dad bench is to sleep on and how they’re tired, as if their wife didn’t just push out an entire a*s baby and is up feeding their cluster feeding newborn throughout the night (and they complain so much about how they can’t sleep but they’ll be out cold snoring whenever I come in for assessments). Also had a baby go into respiratory distress and go to NICU, and the dad slept through the entire ordeal. Our visitor policy is only 2 allowed (dad counts as 1 visitor) and I once had a dad try to go behind his wife’s back and have his mother be their 2nd visitor rather than her own mother, who she wanted there. When he left the room she was begging me to not let her MIL come in, and I had to stop the MIL at the front desk and send her home, which the dad was verrryyyyyy mad about. And in L&D clinicals I’ve seen many dads just scroll on their phone while their wife is crying in pain from her contractions. And last but not least, many men refuse to change their baby’s diapers and expect the nurses or their wife who just gave birth to do it.
Damn. My ex was the first to change both kids diapers. He was amazing- I will definitely give him that. He even had his own diaper bag that he kept in his truck because he wanted them to literally go everywhere with him. He's still that way to this day- so proud of his boys.
My favorite was the baby daddy (he was not in OR and she was failure to progress) asking after she had her c-section if we put in an extra stitch for him. Deadpan “Sir do you understand she had a c-section and the baby did not come out out of her vagina?” He just laughed it off and felt pretty dumb with the look I was giving him. Pretty sure I said now I hope you’re smarter than that. 🙄
I had a dad ask his laboring partner if she was going to "be finished" before the puck dropped at a hockey game he wanted to watch.
It’s absolutely ridiculous how many fathers really think that baby is not their responsibility. So so sad. My job has made me kinda resent men. The good ones are sooooo few and far between.
I had my first baby at 17. He was 19. All through the labour he slept. My mam came to support me as I gave birth. Held my hand and told me off when I said I couldn't do it. My mam had to place my baby boy in his arms saying,this is your baby boy. Nothing. Left soon after my mam did. I ended up leaving him and being a lone parent. My boy deserves better then that. I felt sad and scared but had to just get on with it. My baby boy is 27 now and makes me so proud!
I had a patient who was hemorrhaging, and her husband kept gleefully saying, “Oh wow, this is just like Chicago Med.” Took everything I had to not tell him to shut up while his wife was actively dying. 🙄 I mean, I’m glad we were all so calm he didn’t realize it was truly an emergency, but she lost 2L of blood before we got it under control. Not sure what he thought was happening with five nurses, anesthesia, and multiple OBs in the room.
I work postpartum too and a lot of dads think their baby isn’t their responsibility. they won’t change diapers, they won’t hold baby, they won’t help with feeds, and they look at me with this shocked look in their eyes if I ask them to do anything.
And they're usually the ones that want the kids! Bug wife about having kids then want nothing to do with them!
I haven't done a *ton* of L+D shifts, but I've definitely seen the "brought my gaming console from home" thing a few times. One guy in particular was really bad, he was on there literally every time I came in the room (postpartum) and the L+D nurses said he was doing the same during the actual labor as well. I think he may have paused it during the actual final few pushes but that's it.
With that patient I just made sure to spend some extra time with her when I went in to do my checks. Would chit chat for a while, get her extra snacks, and all that. Of course I still felt bad that her SO was an a*s and that she wasn't getting *any* support from him, but I really wanted her to know that she could ask the staff anything and that she at least had us in her corner.
My husband sold his Xbox the day after our daughter was born. His best friend horrified gave him one. Still in the closet never hooked up
Note: this post originally had 38 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Just thought I'd send out an opposite perspective, so not everyone thinks we're dipshits. My daughter, who is now eleven, is an IVF baby and was absolutely wanted by both of us. My wife ended up having to have an emergency C section, as her BP was through the roof and, when I first heard my daughter cry, I shouted 'she's here!' and burst into tears myself. I ended up being the first to hold her, I cut her cord and I changed her nappy after her first poo, at 3am. My wife couldn't have done it, she was still recovering from surgery. I would have breastfed her if I could have. We're not all complete shitheads; some of us want our kids
You're the kind of father and husband every woman wants. Well done.
Load More Replies...
After having my daughter, we were kept in for a few days for observation (traumatic birth), and there was a woman in the bed opposite me who broke my heart. I managed to speak to her a few times on the ward, she was super nice but very broken down by others. She said she sent a photo of the newborn to her ex partner and his only comment was that she should've had an abortion. She was up all night feeding her newborn, absolutely exhausted from giving birth, her useless mother brought her 3 year old daughter back to her, and complained that she was too tired to look after her as the kid didn't sleep. So that poor woman now had her 3YO running about the hospital and her newborn screaming the place down. Fortunately the nurses were amazing at occupying the 3YO, and a social worker came in to arrange help for the woman as soon as she was discharged. I do think about her sometimes and I hope she's doing ok.
Just thought I'd send out an opposite perspective, so not everyone thinks we're dipshits. My daughter, who is now eleven, is an IVF baby and was absolutely wanted by both of us. My wife ended up having to have an emergency C section, as her BP was through the roof and, when I first heard my daughter cry, I shouted 'she's here!' and burst into tears myself. I ended up being the first to hold her, I cut her cord and I changed her nappy after her first poo, at 3am. My wife couldn't have done it, she was still recovering from surgery. I would have breastfed her if I could have. We're not all complete shitheads; some of us want our kids
You're the kind of father and husband every woman wants. Well done.
Load More Replies... After having my daughter, we were kept in for a few days for observation (traumatic birth), and there was a woman in the bed opposite me who broke my heart. I managed to speak to her a few times on the ward, she was super nice but very broken down by others. She said she sent a photo of the newborn to her ex partner and his only comment was that she should've had an abortion. She was up all night feeding her newborn, absolutely exhausted from giving birth, her useless mother brought her 3 year old daughter back to her, and complained that she was too tired to look after her as the kid didn't sleep. So that poor woman now had her 3YO running about the hospital and her newborn screaming the place down. Fortunately the nurses were amazing at occupying the 3YO, and a social worker came in to arrange help for the woman as soon as she was discharged. I do think about her sometimes and I hope she's doing ok.
