People on Reddit were asked: “What’s the best reaction you’ve seen from a dad during and/or after the birth of his child?” These are some of the best answers.
1. Paying it forward
At a forceps delivery last night: the dad to be was so horrified/impressed by the amount of pain his wife had gone through during her labour that he phoned up his own mum to say ‘thanks’!
chocolate_teapot
2. Getting a little too excited
When my older sister was being born, my dad was in the room. He was so excited to watch he screamed “HONEY!! YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!!!”
My mum dead-pan: “I’m a bit busy, can I get back to you dear?”
1_2_3_Go
3. Horrifying
My own husband during my first C section. The doc asks if he wants to look over the curtain at the baby being delivered. He looks over. Looks back… with a look of horror.
“What’s wrong?” “Your insides……are on your outsides.”
I will never forget the look on his face or the sound of his voice.
baconwastaken
4. They all look the same!
When I was born, my dad pulled out a Sharpie and drew a star at the bottom of my foot. To make sure they didn’t lose me.
amazamy
5. Be proud
My son’s father is a very well-educated, well-spoken man. He was with me in the hospital room when I gave birth, and the first thing he said after seeing our son for the first time was:
“OH MY GOD! Look at his balls!”
kaytINSANE
6. What a comparison!
I was a C-section baby.
A couple of years ago, the topic came up with my parents while drinking. I mention that is sounds kinda gross. My father looks me right in the eye and say, “Have you ever seen Alien? It was just like that.”
DizeazedFly
7. He was probably right
For the birth of my oldest brother, my Dad was holding my Mom’s hand. After he was born, my Mom noticed he was rubbing his hand. She asks him why he’s rubbing his hand, my Dad said, “Well, you were squeezing my hand pretty hard.” My Mom asks, “Why didn’t you tell me I was hurting you?” Dad says, “Well, I figured you were in more pain than I was.”
meantforamazing
8. Atleast he waited until the ordeal was over…
According to my parents, I was a super fast delivery. Like so fast that the doctors/nurses had stepped out of the room to go attend to someone else and my mom grabbed my dad and told him to get ready to catch me. My dad didn’t even have time to put on gloves and had to catch me, baby gunk and all. Apparently he smiled, passed me to the nurses (who came rushing in), kissed my mom on the lips, then leaned over and vomited everywhere.
rangharad
9. Quick-witted doctor
OBGYN med student here. After the baby came out, both parents were so happy I almost cried. The mom had some small vaginal tears, which is normal, so as the doctor was suturing the tears the dad goes, “Hey doc can you throw in a couple extra in there for me?” The wife gives him the look of death. Without missing a beat the doctor says, “Sorry I don’t think I could make it small enough for you.”
fevermedicine
10. Must be a beautician’s child
I was born in the 80s, and my dad was in the operating room. I have a few older brothers who were all born naturally, but bro #3 did some damage so I was born via scheduled c-section; something my parents weren’t really used to. My parents didn’t know the sex of their new baby (me) ahead of time, so it was going to be a surprise. The surgeon put his hand in my mom’s abdomen to reach for me, and yelled to the room “It’s a girl!” before getting me out. My dad was so excited he just blurted out, “How can you tell??” and the surgeon looked at him with a sarcastic face and said, “She’s wearing earrings”.
SomebodycalltheAlarm
11. That’s a big one
When I was born, my father (who is a gynecologist himself) came from watching me do my big entrance (or exit, depending on how you look at it) and said to my mom, “… You’re not going to believe what you just did.”
I was over ten pounds at birth.
joliedame
12. Panic in the delivery room
Naturally like most babies, I was crying after I was born. My dad was yelling at the nurses saying that they were doing something wrong since I wouldn’t stop crying….they kicked him out of the room.
josette92
13. A good memory
My dad was a singer when I was little. He’d sing to me before I was born. I always heard that the first time he held me he started singing Brown-eyed Girl and I stopped crying to listen because I remembered his voice.
ms-cnidaria
14. It’s pretty
I like my dad’s story. When I was born, after they took me back for checkup stuff and my mom was in recovery, he went outside and took a ton of pictures of the sky. He said it was such a beautiful day out that he couldn’t resist. I still have the pictures.
brokenpheonix
15. One step at a time
Apparently when I was born, my dad looked at me in shock and exclaimed “She’s going to date guys like me!”
For context, my dad’s kind of a smart-aleck. It makes me giggle whenever my mom tells the story.
kellmabelle
16. One proud dad
The day I was born my dad took me down every hall in the hospital and showed me off to everyone who would look, “Look how beautiful my little girl is!” My mom said he was gone with me for over an hour.
motoroats
17. No trade-backs
My mom said that my dad literally never let go of me when I was at the hospital. He stayed with me the whole time, because he was afraid someone would try to switch their rubbish baby with his awesome baby.
not0your0nerd
18. Some explaining to do
As a paramedic I have delivered 14 babies and I will never forget this one…
African american woman very pregnant and her Latin boyfriend are in my ambulance. We are very close to the medical center and she isn’t going to make it to the hospital. I set up for the delivery and get everyone mentally prepared. Mom was wonderful and we soon have a fifth person in the ambulance. The boyfriend who was explained to me as the dad was just white in shock. This isn’t uncommon so he sits and breathes. As we are backing into the bay at the ER I wipe the baby off and we all realize this child is dark featured and looks more black. The “father” looks at the baby screams “It’s not mine!” and dives out the backdoors as my partner opens them and proceeds to run as fast as I have ever seen someone run. I wish I knew the rest of what happened.
c3h8pro
19. The good old days
I was born in the 80’s and the ultrasound technology wasn’t that great. What my parents didn’t know was that instead of one baby there were two. Our hearts were beating at the same time and they could never tell the sex so they thought it was just one giant baby. So, I come out. Then my mom says “Doc, I still feel pain” and he looks and says “I see another head!” Apparently my father said “What on Earth? Who’s baby is that?” …and then my sister popped out. They were obviously floored.
GinGimlet
20. Disappointment
When my dad was born my grandpa wasn’t even there. He was asleep in the lobby of the hospital. The doctor had to go and find him, to tell him he was a father. When he came in to the delivery room and the doctor showed him my dad he only had one thing to say, “I thought they were supposed to be cute.”
cmeo
21. True love
My birth was both a terrifying and wonderful day all at the same time. My mother haemorrhaged pretty badly, so my dad had this turbulent hour in which he was both crying with joy over the birth of his first child, and also with terror at the thought of losing his wife. The doctors wouldn’t let him back in the room while they were trying to save my mom’s life, so apparently for this hour all he did was pace the hallways outside the room holding me, and refusing to let anyone else near me as if he was already preparing for it to just be me and him.
My dad has never stopped being an utterly devoted – and emotional – father.
mariekeap
22. Probably wouldn’t be a good dancer
When I was born, they took me off immediately to clean me, take my footprints, bundle me up, and whatnot. I guess the two nurses were in a bit of a hurry and were doing both at the same time and managed to get a print of my left foot twice instead of a left and a right. Apparently upon seeing the prints he became extremely distressed and literally ripped the blanket off me to make sure I didn’t ACTUALLY have two left feet.
mollydog21
23. Expecting something different?
My dad’s response to my entering this world was “IT’S A PERSON”.
I am still not sure if he was just surprised or was expecting something different.
shaarox
24. Painful for both parents
I was an 11 pounds baby. My mom came so close to breaking my dad’s arm they gave her a rolled up blanket to squeeze instead. Luckily I was a pretty quick birth!
knot353
25. The hugger
A friend, who when his son was born, just started crying hysterically and hugged everyone, the doctor, nurses, he even ran out into the hallway and hugged people visiting other patients. Always makes me smile when I think of it.
Void23
26. It’s a child, not a cake
When I was born, I was hyper oxygenated, and was RED. My dad actually said “Put this one back, she’s not done yet.”
strixus
27. Nailed it!
My dad is a carpenter and was at work when he was told that my mom was in labor with me. His reaction? He went into a shocked stupor and accidentally shot his thumb with a nailgun. And that’s the story of why my (then 11 year old) sister had to fill out my birth certificate.
[deleted]
28. Doctors gotta eat…
My brother was born about a year after me and my mother had gone into false labor so many times that she only knew she was really in labor when she couldn’t sleep that night. Anyways, later at the hospital, the doctor said that she was gonna be in labor for a lot longer, so he went and ate dinner. She wasn’t in labor for much longer. My grandmother delivered the kid and was holding him when a nurse walks by and says “You can’t do that!” My grandmother retorts with “Well, I’m not gonna put it back!”
tubacmm
29. Quite a shock
My father, up until I was born, had not ever seen a newborn baby. Naturally, he assumed that all babies looked like they do in movies or commercials.
As you can imagine, he was quite disappointed when an alien-looking thing is handed to him and introduced to him as his daughter.
He handed me back to the doctors and went outside to calculate how much all of the plastic surgeries were going to cost.
OHHxbby
30. Happy Thanksgiving
My mom watched my second c-section (my husband had watched the first and it fully satisfied his curiosity about where babies come from). She told me later that they hauled everything out, cut out the baby, and then according to her “they stuffed you like a turkey” to put everything back.
catsasss
31. First impressions count
When my mom told my dad that she was in labour with me my dad showered, did his hair, put on a suit and tie and some cowboy boots… When asked why he told my mom he wanted to make a good first impression.
sunflowerdojo
32. Seeking medical assistance
When I having my first son, the doctor and my husband could not stop watching the football game happening at the same time. I even had to shout at my doctor to help me as I began to crown.
[deleted]
33. It’s like a payment plan
When my first child was born, I was wearily walking past the nursery. I saw the nurses wheel out two kids to a new dad. She said “Can you handle them both?”
His response was: “How about I take one today, and come back for the other in sixth months?”
[deleted]
34. Squish
Thankfully not one that I personally saw, but when my younger cousin was born they had someone who was still training in the room observing and whatnot. Well, after the birth she was in charge of taking care of the placenta. It slipped out of her hands and splattered all over the floor. My uncle thought it was my cousin and fainted.
nerdystar46
35. Hey! That’s mine…
Oh my dad started freaking out so much when I was born that he stole my mom’s oxygen mask for himself. The doctor’s started yelling at him about how the baby (me) needed the oxygen and had to steal it away from him.
Letshearit9