Childbirth can be an exciting, stressful and sometimes scary experience. When first time moms and dads to be enter the labor and delivery room at the hospital, they are entering the unknown. This is a completely new experience that is going to start a new phase of their lives.
While new moms and dads only experience childbirth a few times, labor and delivery doctors experience it on a regular basis. It’s literally their job.
Moms often like to share their birth stories, swapping tales of woe and pain or how easy it was with an epidural. Do doctors like to share stories about childbirth too? It turns out they do.
While doctors aren’t gossiping about their patients on a regular basis, Reddit has given them an outlet to share some of the craziest drama they’ve witnessed in the delivery room and to do so anonymously. Scroll down for some really wacky but true stories about family drama in the delivery room.
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Dad Punched the Doctor
Reddit user JaniePage wrote:
A doctor was delivering the baby via ventouse, a vacuum extraction. He was pulling, and you do honestly have to put some muscle into it, those babies are stuck pretty fast in there sometimes. Anyway, the suction cap came off the baby’s head, this happens a lot. The father of the baby thought that the doctor had pulled so hard that he had pulled the baby’s head off, so naturally punched the doctor in the jaw, who went straight down to the ground like a felled tree. Much yelling ensued, people holding the father back, him realising that the baby was fine once we pointed out that the head was still inside, unconscious doctor being pulled into a chair, another doctor coming in to do the delivery, the mother crying hysterically.We had to have a quick and frantic conversation at the midwives’ station about whether to allow the father to remain in the room. We decided that from his vantage point it may have appeared that the baby’s head had been, uh, removed and that he had a momentary loss of reason. He was also hugely apologetic and took responsibility for his actions. The doctor who got punched took every opportunity afterwards to tell that story as often as possible and we all laughed.
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A White Baby to Non-White Parents
Anytimeisteatime shared:
I was once present at the birth of a very white baby to not white parents. The parents spoke a different language to staff and there was this awkward silence while staff tried desperately not to exchange eye contact or stare at the father for his reaction. After a while, it was obvious that the father either hadn’t noticed or didn’t care, as he looked delighted and was chatting to the mother happily.Subsequently determined albinism ran in the man’s family.
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Where’s the Mom?
Another Reddit user explained:
Workmate of mine is about to become a dad in the next week. His wife has been getting to know the nurses at their local hospital and listening to some of the stories….One day a bloke came running down the ward hallway screaming for help that his wife was in labour and they needed the docs to come quickly! The nurses looked around curiously and asked him “ok… so where is she?” The colour from the bloke’s face drains for a second as he thinks this over… “OH SHIT!” and he legs it out of there. 40 minutes later he returns with wife in tow. In his initial rush, he’d packed change of clothes, the car seat, camera gear, high tailed it to the hospital and left the missus at home!
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That Was Unexpected
DrBasia added:
So I’m in medical school on my obstetric rotation. I’m doing a late night shift cuz I just want to see some births (labor lasts forever, yo). 20s something schizophrenic woman comes in, laboring with her 6th child. Her mother apparently has custody of the other kids, kind of a sad situation. Police had to break her door down because she went into labor and continuously screamed “I’m not giving birth to Satan’s baby! This is Satan’s baby!” The doctor I’m with looks unamused and just says to the nurse “sedate her a bit, we’ll do a c section if she refused to push, etc”. After about 30 minutes and some sedating drugs the doctor tells me to go in and do a pelvic exam and to report to him how far along things are. He went in with me, and then got called out as I’m putting on gloves, saying he’ll be back in a minute. I introduce myself to the patient, explain what I’m doing and start the examination. I feel a contracting sensation and next thing I know a baby’s head pushes my hands out and I’m holding a screaming newborn. I am so in shock I am just staring at the baby and I start to feabily scream, “I, uh, need, uh, some help here!”Everything was well with the baby and mom. I had to throw away my socks and shoes. Edit: I forgot the best part, where the mother goes, “what’s your name, I’ll name it after you!” It was a boy, I’m female, she insisted I give her my name. I didn’t want to screw up this kids life so I said Henry.
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A Firefighter’s Story
Mittens22299 added:
Not a doctor but a fire fighter. Got called for a pregnancy, baby already born. Get on scene and mom and daughter (who just gave birth) are arguing back and forth. Mom summed her argument up best with “I told ya you was pregnant”
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“Something Is Wrong”
Xyzar wrote:
Im a doctor but this is not my story. There was this couple who were gonna birth their first. The father though had already a child from a previous marrige. So when it was time for labour, instead of being supportive and calm and leaving it to the proffesionals. The father went batshit and started screaming ”my previous wife wasnt in this much pain, something is wrong”. That is excactly what a woman in labour would like to hear
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Free Parking
obeyaasurus shared:
I worked as a hospital parking attendant manning the booth. A car pulled up and the woman was mid way pushing out her baby in the passenger seat. One relative in the back was giving her a back massage, one was fanning her, her kid was playing on his DS, and her husband in the driver seat nonchalantly smiled at me and asked for one ticket all while the mother just delivered her own baby looking calmed like it was a perfunctory task. I didn’t know what to do so I just gave them free parking.
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All About the Ex
NoNotTom_Sawyer shared:
When I was a nursing student doing my OB rotation, a group of us watched our first delivery. There was no time to do an epidural because the baby was ready and he wasn’t waiting.After the baby’s delivered, the first thing the dad says is ‘You can rub it my ex’s face that you did it natural.’ It wasn’t a huge dramatic thing but everyone in the room just kinda looked at each other. Like buddy, your son was just born and you’re more excited to one up your ex?
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Want To Cut the Cord?
recycledpaper explained:
baby daddy and baby grandma are in delivery room. We’re setting up the table to deliver and cheerfully ask “okay dad, want to cut the cord?”. Baby daddy loses his shit “not if this she devil is in the room” and points to baby grandma. They get into a yelling match and meanwhile the patient and I make awkward eye contact and while the nurse and the other resident try to calm them down, we deliver the baby and I cut the cord.
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That Was a Mistake
okitay wrote:
The baby’s father was caught cracking open the anesthesia cart and stealing meds. When police officers came to arrest him, he was sobbing and kept saying over and over “y’all aren’t going to let me see my baby be born?” and the officers were both like um nope should’ve thought about that before
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Dad Couldn’t Handle It
Mashdoofus added:
I’m an ICU doctor.. and when they call codes in the birthing suite it’s usually pretty awful – a horrific bleed like a CSI scene or a fitting woman giving birth. So your heart kinda sinks when they call that on the overhead.. but this one time, we ran down to t)3 code and dad had passed out cold on the floor next to mum who was mid push and still able to laugh at the hilarity of it all!
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A Different Race
paperconversation101 wrote:
Oh. Friends a midwife. Baby comes out looking very very Asian to an apparently white couple. Lots of umms and looks.Turns out that the father was mixed race on his mums side and she never mentioned it.
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A Text
mzyos explained:
Husband was sitting in the corner playing candy crush on his wife’s phone whilst she was in labour, up popped a text message saying “does he know that it might not be his?”. Shouting ensued and he walked out and left the unit with her crying.