Before the 1970's it was normal practice for labouring women to be dropped off at the hospital and their partner or husband told to "Go home we will let you know when the baby is born". Many anxious fathers sat in waiting rooms, paced hospital corridors with cigars in their pockets or had a round of golf while their wife laboured alone, with her often not knowing what was happening to her body or what was going on around her.
Many of our fathers and grandfathers felt deprived of this momentous experience and now look with envy at their sons and grandsons taking part in their children's births. Even now, some grandmothers and mothers are invited to their daughter's births, but it is rare for a father or grandfather to be present. Birth, like death, is now viewed more as a family ritual, a passage of life to be shared by all. Birth is a special occasion that stays in your memory for the rest of your life. A privilege to be a part of.
