The wording the article uses is offensive. A dad isn't in the delivery room just to "witness" the birth, or at least he shouldn't be. He's there to support the mother, advocate for her, help her make decisions regarding how the birth goes, support the newborn baby, advocate for him or her, and (maybe) make very difficult medical decisions if either is compromised.
Most of my children were born without a lot of complications, and I didn't have to do much decision-making or advocacy, just support my wife, talk to her, hold her hand, rub her back, cut the cord, take pictures, hold the baby, and all that. My baby girl responded immediately to my voice in a way that she didn't respond to other voices, because she had heard my voice a lot while she was in the womb.
My most recent turned into a difficult birth, with both mother and baby very sick with a rare infection, and an emergency C-section, and then with my newborn son in the hospital for ten days of IV antibiotics. Because my wife was in recovery I had to immediately provide "kangaroo care" -- that is, skin to skin contact with my newborn son, to help him adapt. Also, to hold him as much as possible in the neonatal ICU, while he had IVs stuck in and medication pumped in. My wife was not very mobile at that point.
Once she was a little more mobile the friends we had tapped to watch our other kids were all tapped out and so I had to be a stay-at-home dad for them.
Parenting responsibilities and spouse responsibilities are not like work responsibilities. They just aren't. Anyone who says or behaves otherwise is a sociopath.
We went through the Lamaze classes where they tell you all the things you'll be doing to help your wife birth your first child. Then we went to the delivery room where the nurses pointed next to my wife's head and said, "you stand here" while they did all the things I thought I was supposed to do.
And, honestly, I didn't mind. It was nice letting the professionals do their jobs and I could sort of be a cheerleader (bad term but its the best I can come up with at the moment) and witness the birth of my child.
Most of my children were born without a lot of complications, and I didn't have to do much decision-making or advocacy, just support my wife, talk to her, hold her hand, rub her back, cut the cord, take pictures, hold the baby, and all that. My baby girl responded immediately to my voice in a way that she didn't respond to other voices, because she had heard my voice a lot while she was in the womb.
My most recent turned into a difficult birth, with both mother and baby very sick with a rare infection, and an emergency C-section, and then with my newborn son in the hospital for ten days of IV antibiotics. Because my wife was in recovery I had to immediately provide "kangaroo care" -- that is, skin to skin contact with my newborn son, to help him adapt. Also, to hold him as much as possible in the neonatal ICU, while he had IVs stuck in and medication pumped in. My wife was not very mobile at that point.
Once she was a little more mobile the friends we had tapped to watch our other kids were all tapped out and so I had to be a stay-at-home dad for them.
Parenting responsibilities and spouse responsibilities are not like work responsibilities. They just aren't. Anyone who says or behaves otherwise is a sociopath.