Everyone handles a hospital visit differently, some dread it, some are so used to it that it’s as normal as a trip down to the grocery store. When it comes to giving birth, the majority of attention is given to the person, well, actually giving birth, but sometimes, expecting fathers have a bizarre way of stealing the spotlight.
Someone asked “Maternity staff, what are the weirdest or wildest things you’ve seen from expecting fathers?” and people shared their most unhinged stories. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments down below.
#1
My mom told me a story when she worked at the hospital where the mother didn’t know which guy was the dad so the two men showed up. One in a very nice three piece suit and the other guy dressed in a red devil costume, leotard, horns, tail and pitchfork. True story.
Image source: youmustb3jokn, Loïc Barré / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#2
My mother-in-law likes to tell the story of how my father-in-law, a lawyer, was in court arguing a case when she went into labour. This was the 80s, so no cell phones. All she could do was call the courthouse, leave a message with someone, and head to the hospital on her own.
The result was my FIL, an hour or so later, showing up on the maternity ward totally disheveled and still in his formal court attire, having run 15 blocks from the courthouse to the hospital the second he got the message. In my country, attorneys wear black robes, waistcoats, and funny little white tie/collar numbers, so he made quite the sight. But he made it in time for the birth!
Image source: la_bibliothecaire, EyeEm / freepik (not the actual photo)
#3
Not staff but I called my brother to ask how my SIL was doing during her induction and he told me he didn’t know because he went home. Because it could take awhile. He. Went. Home. I was literally like ……”….you left?” My husband took such good care of me during my induction. As a *partner* should. Blew my mind. By the time my niece was born he didn’t want to look because it would be “gross” and then had to sit down because he was going to pass out. My SIL said the fact that the nurses were doting on him and bringing him Gatorade was the motivation/anger she needed to do that last big push.
I’ve never, ever been more disappointed.
Image source: linzkisloski, DC Studio / freepik (not the actual photo)
#4
My dad worked OB at a Detroit hospital for some time. After witnessing a black husband scream at his black wife for birthing a white baby, my dad made it a habit to tell first-time black fathers that their babies often come out *much* lighter than their parents.
That poor woman.
Image source: SassiestPants, The Yuri Arcurs Collection / freepik (not the actual photo)
#5
My workmate went with his wife to the hospital while she was in labour.
He almost passed out and was splashing his face with water saying “I can’t do this”
His wife called him out, said “you’re doing nothing, I’m the one doing this, not you”.
He managed to support her through it. .
Image source: OwlNo1068, syda_productions / freepik (not the actual photo)
#6
I worked with someone who’s partner took her to the labour ward, gave his mobile number to the staff and told them to call when baby was nearly there as he was going to wait in the pub.
He walked out and wasn’t allowed back in a few hours later as he was drunk.
Anyway, they are divorced now.
Image source: ValuableMine9, EyeEm / freepik (not the actual photo)
#7
I was the father of a beautiful baby girl. While I was filling out the forms for her birth certificate etc, I casually commented to the nurse that they must see a lot of nervous fathers. She said she has seen guys literally run out of the building, like to run away. I was just like… 😬😬.
Image source: diabolicalroadrash, freepik (not the actual photo)
#8
My friend worked L&D in a rural area and after the wife birthed their first child, the husband asked the doctor, “how soon can I breed her again?”
He didn’t ask it as a joke.
Image source: throwaway4life85, The Yuri Arcurs Collection / freepik (not the actual photo)
#9
The sheer amount of men who will bring their entire gaming systems complete with a TV into the labor room so they can game with the boys while their partner births their child.
Image source: tina_bean02, freepik (not the actual photo)
#10
While my mom was undergoing a c-section (I was feet-first), my dad fainted, hit his head, and had to be seen downstairs in the ER to get stitches. My mother never let him live it down.
Image source: Bebe_Yaga_, pressmaster / freepik (not the actual photo)
#11
A relative who is a doctor told me this story about his first night on call as a GP.
He gets a 1am call from a man who had been at the pub and returned home to find his pregnant wife in early labour (about 32 weeks). My relative tells the man to phone an ambulance, then gets in the car and races out to the patient.
He arrived at the patient’s house to find no ambulance. The father answered the door, looking pale, and says “she’s had the baby, Doctor.” My relative goes in and quickly ensures the baby is breathing, mum is OK, etc. Then, having discovered that the father hadn’t phoned for an ambulance, uses the landline to arrange for an ambulance and a bed in the neonatal ICU. This was before cordless phones and the phone wasn’t in the bedroom, so my relative couldn’t see the patient.
My relative is on the phone when he hears the father shout, “Doctor! There’s something else coming!”
My relative shouts, “That’s the placenta, don’t worry!”
A couple of minutes later my relative hears a much higher pitched shout:
“Doctor! Is it supposed to move?”
My relative drops the phone and races to the bedroom. It was an unexpected twin born inside the amniotic sac.
After stabilising the second baby, my relative then has to phone back to tell them he needs a second ambulance and *two* NICU beds.
Image source: Acceptable-Bell142, freepik (not the actual photo)
#12
I was an ER nurse, but to get to L&D you came thru ER. One guy was wanting to watch Monday night football while his wife was in labor. He showed up with a 12 pack of Bud light, a bag of Oreos and a hibachi grill in case he would be here awhile.
Another one was so nervous about watching his wife give birth he passed out cold in the parking lot. One of the security guards found him. He had struck his head on the curb, needed 50 sutures to close a scalp wound and was taken to the L&D waiting room where he fell asleep on a sofa. His wife had no idea where he went to and didn’t find him until she was being discharged.
Another guy was a local DJ on a radio station. He was a first time dad and wanted everyone to know about it. He was in the delivery room doing a play by play for all his listeners. His wife finally had enough and started screaming obscenities until he stopped broadcasting.
Image source: Majestic-Log-5642, DC Studio / freepik (not the actual photo)
#13
While having an emergency c section my now ex husband looked over and exclaimed OH WHOA IS THAT HER LIVER?! Then tried to lean in a bit more to see and a nurse promptly and rightfully elbowed him right in the nose.
Image source: blondebeaker, wavebreakmedia_micro / freepik (not the actual photo)
#14
Partner striped naked to get in the birthing pool with his wife/girlfriend. the poor midwife didn’t know what to do.
edit to add: there was no issue with him choosing to be in the pool with his wife (although having seen what’s in a birthing pool after a delivery, it’s not somewhere i’d choose to be). the weird part was that he felt it was okay to entirely strip in front of a midwife who was maybe 23/24 at the time and a male doctor. his wife was wearing more clothing than he was.
Image source: IntelligentRepeat568, freepik (not the actual photo)
#15
My dad said to the doctor and nurses when I was born a girl. “Oh no! Another split-tail. Throw her back!” He thought it was hilarious. How do I know this story? He still brags about it 40 years later because he’s an jerk.
I wonder what the people there thought about it.
Image source: BerriesLafontaine, pixaflow / freepik (not the actual photo)
#16
This is terrible but I also heard a story where they needed to stitch up the mom after natural birth and the dad instructed the doctor to make her “extra tight” so he could enjoy her tonight. My mom was mortified and would get white every time she told that story.
Image source: youmustb3jokn, DC Studio / freepik (not the actual photo)
#17
“Why are you crying?” to a woman who had a third degree tear having her baby.
Image source: Future-Substance-244, The Yuri Arcurs Collection / freepik (not the actual photo)
#18
As a student midwife, my mentor & I were looking after a couple who had got pregnant on their 1st date so very much still in the honeymoon period. When she was offered an internal examination, she asked us to leave the room so that her partner could ‘moisten her up first’ 😂.
Image source: tummyrumbling, photoroyalty / freepik (not the actual photo)
#19
Our 1st pregnancy was a difficult one so while I worked a freind would stay with my then-wife to help her out. I was working on a phone line while on a ladder in the middle of an intersection when that freind came roaring up saying that she just took the wife, who wasn’t due for weeks still, to the hospital. I slid down the ladder, dropped my tools right there in the middle of the intersection, told my groundsman he was on his own and booked it to the hospital. I wasn’t going to miss this for the world.
When my 1st grandson was being born (even earlier than his dad! Lol), they wanted us there ASAP to keep my D-i-L’s absolute nightmare of a mother out of the delivery room until all was done, and also (due to my EMS background) to help the understand all the medical devices and procedures that were going on.
Any father that doesn’t step up and be there for their baby’s mom is a punk.
Image source: BigWhiteDog, Svitlana Hulko / freepik (not the actual photo)
#20
A relative who was a GP doing a locum got tired of the midwives calling him for a delivery very late in the birth (if the baby arrived before the doctor got there, the midwife got the delivery fee so the late calls were deliberate). So he started to go to bed fully clothed and managed to get there in time thereafter. Said the crestfallen expressionon the midwives faces was classic. It wasn’t so much that he begrudged the midwives the fee as it was being pissed off at being woken up at 2 am and driving to the hospital for no reason.
Image source: Intern_That, freepik (not the actual photo)
#21
Not staff, but my baby’s father left mid labor to go “clean the house” (aka cheat on me), came back only when I demanded it because they broke my water…then proceeded to come back drunk and sleep through my entire labor. The nurses woke him up to cut the cord and then he went back to sleep. (He lasted about 3 weeks after baby was born before I kicked him out).
Image source: becauseimcool, freepik (not the actual photo)
#22
L & D nurse here. My favorite story: I went in to be the second nurse in a delivery. Mom was having her fifth baby. Gender was a surprise, and the couple had four girls already.
As the baby (boy) was delivered and the dad caught a glimpse of the genitals, he grabbed me, started jumping up and down shouting, “it has a WEINER! It has a WEINER!!”.
Image source: WhatRUrGsandPs, cookie_studio / freepik (not the actual photo)
#23
My friends loser ex boyfriend was kicked out for taking her laughing gas from her while in labour .
Image source: North_Guidance2749, freepik (not the actual photo)
#24
I am not maternity staff but after giving birth I developed post-partim pre-eclampsia and needed to stay longer at the hospital. The baby was great and she was allowed to stay with me. My husband wanted to go home to sleep in a comfortable bed. I told him through gritted teeth I could literally die, he doesn’t get comfort. I think that really opened his eyes because from then on he has been amazing and supportive.
Image source: Unlucky_Key_158
#25
My mother was at the hospital to have me, and my dad was admitted at the same time with ulcers. Hmmmnnn. Gee wonder if any correlation.
Image source: MissHibernia, DC Studio / freepik (not the actual photo)
#26
Story from the opposite end.
My eldest god son is now 21.
This story goes back to his birth, my friend had a tendency for premature and short births.
Her first arrived 2 weeks early after a 4 hour labour
Her Second arrived 5 weeks early and a 2 hour labour.
This was her third.
Her husband was out of town she was bored and 30 weeks pregnant, they had a plan in place….it didnt happen We had just sat down and ordered pizza in some place in Chelsea near where she lived, we were talking when she stopped stood up and said we need to go to the hospital now!.
I looked confused, then realised “but youve still got a couple of months….”
She explained about her first two and added she wasnt about to give birth in an hour if she wasnt in a hospital…
So we cancelled the pizza….her waters broke in the doorway. She yelled sorry, im flagging down a black cab, shes having contractions…im trying to call husband and the maternity ward as shes trying to stay calm….
We get to the hospitals maternity ward, still no husband. …
The midwife tells me to put down the phone it can wait and i need to be in there with her..
We laugh im not her husband im not the kids father im trying to call him. Im still being dressed in the protective gear and calling her husband who isnt responding.
…10 minutes later godson arrives screaming.
57 minutes from that first twinge, till he arrived…..
Friend passes out, apparently thats happened each time, she kept that a surprise im there holding him.
Phone rings nurse answers.
All she says to husband was, “well that was a rollercoaster smiles at me gives my phone back..takes GS and i talk with husband.
I just ask why did noone warn me this was why you wanted someone with her at all times…..
Ironically, her 4th and final kid a few years later -a girl- after 3 boys, arrived as scheduled and a 14 hour Labour.
Image source: SmoothArea1206, freepik (not the actual photo)
#27
I was charge nurse one night when my nurse came and told me she walked in on a dad breastfeeding from the mom/patient… like, on his knees with a breast in his mouth. Baby was in the crib whining like, “Hey, it’s my turn!”
Nurse just walked right back out.
Image source: lostindarkness811, wirestock / freepik (not the actual photo)
#28
Overheard in an orthopedic OR (both dudes) —
Junior Resident: Oh, my wife just called. She’s on her way in to labor & delivery.
Senior Attending: Oh, congratulations! See you later, then.
JR: No, it’s her first, it’ll take a while. I can do this case.
SA: …son. As someone who’s been divorced, I’m telling you, you need to go. Now. You’re not scrubbing this case.
Image source: Faux_Fury, https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/young-medics-talking-door_1796567.htm#fromView=search&page=1&position=41&uuid=20f5aa2a-9564-42d0-9a65-cd2a343c0b50&query=doctors+talking
#29
After delivering a boy I asked the new dad if he knew they were having a boy and he said, dead serious “well the doctor said there was a 50% chance so I was pretty certain”.
Image source: Low-Ad-6152, EyeEm / freepik (not the actual photo)
#30
My mother told me my dad showed up with a face full of lipstick kisses when my brother was born…
They didn’t split up and had me 10 years later…
Image source: GalaxyPowderedCat, freepik (not the actual photo)
#31
How about the weirdest thing we saw FROM a maternity ward employee:
When I gave birth to our first daughter, we weren’t married. So, the husband and I had to sign a paper saying he IS the father, etc. Our baby looked so much like him and his sister that we joked that maybe she wasn’t mine. He said “I’m positive I’m her dad but, are you sure you’re her mother?” and other silliness.
Maternity clerk had a brain freeze or something because she was ADAMANT that he had 90 days to refute the paternity claim and suggested a DNA test, etc. We weren’t quiet when we were saying these things and we were OBVIOUSLY cracking up at each other. He was clearly joking when he said “are you sure you’re her mother?” while I was standing there in a hospital gown with a med bracelet on. I don’t think the lady knew how babies were made and born- even with all the chart info right in front of her. We had to reply, “Ma’am…. I’m sure I’m her mother since I just pushed her out hours ago. Says so right here” *points at chart and he said, “Um… ma’am? I asked her if she was sure SHE was her mother. I NEVER said I wasn’t sure she’s my child. We were just joking with each other. How did you come to the conclusion that we needed a DNA test?”
Lady just sat there and blinked for a good minute before it registered in her brain.
Image source: FrankenOperator, wavebreakmedia_micro / freepik (not the actual photo)
#32
There was the dad who hauled in a flat screen and Playstation, playing COD live while I was trying to help mom get baby breastfed. He loudly shushed me because “the guys could hear me”. SIR.
Image source: txgirlinbda
#33
One of my coworkers brought his Xbox to the hospital and was playing Fortnite on the hospital wifi. I’m not even talking about before the baby is born when you’re waiting around, I mean like after the baby is born and you’re still in the hospital. He played with my friends online and they said you could hear the nurse in the background in the middle of the night checking on his wife and baby while he played. Somehow he is still married, and she thinks he’s a great dad even though he’s even worse at home.
Image source: tarheel310
#34
We had an expectant father refuse to sit down when the anesthesiologist showed up to do an epidural – one look at that needle and he passed out conking his head bad enough to need stitches. I got to go downstairs to the ED to tell him his baby had been born and he missed it. The nursing staff was nice to his face but they were laughing at that idiot for months after.
Seriously men, accept that you are useless and weak in the face of your partner’s awesome life giving power and sit your bum down when the nurse tells you to. You have literally one job and if you can’t handle that then I just feel really bad for your kids – I swear these are the guys who turn into the “my wife needs to meal prep and leave pages of detailed instructions in order to go on a two day work trip” 🤮.
Image source: ToughMaterial2962
#35
Not L&D staff but a mom. My husband forgot how to spell my name when he called asking if we should go to the hospital 🤦♀️ we were first time parents and in total denial as to what was happening because I went into labor early and it was also the middle of the night. I’ve never let him live that down!
Image source: Jazzlike-Lynx4952
#36
My dad went outside for a smoke and when he came back I had been born 🤦♀️.
Image source: HurricaneHallene
#37
Co-worker told me that when the doc was stitching her up after an episiotomy, her husband told him to add an extra stitch or two to tighten things up. Neither the doc nor my co-worker was amused by this.
Image source: WilmaValley1226
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