Much as this is a once in lifetime and matchless opportunity, not very many fathers in our setting have had an opportunity to explore all that it has to offer. Countless fathers give varied reasons for this unexploited opportunity.
For some, it has been due to some unavoidable circumstances while for others, it’s pretty much due to not being aware of all the benefits it carries.
Some of the hindrances to having fathers’ support mothers during childbirth may include: health facility policies, busy schedules, existing practice where delivery care plans mainly focus on mother and midwife ignoring the father’s role, lack of spousal consent, uncertainty on what to expect and fear of the unknown.
For the five years I practiced midwifery, I never witnessed a father participate actively in a spouse’s maternity care. We would always ask fathers (attendants as we would call them) to wait patiently in the waiting area usually outside labor ward or even outside theater until the mother is done with the entire process and if lucky the father would be invited in to see the baby just before the mother leaves the labor suite for the postnatal ward.
A few weeks ago, while in a casual conversation with a friend, I learnt that women centered care has evolved so much in Uganda and that fathers are being encouraged to participate in maternity care.
I have been lucky to have my husband with me for the birth of all our three children. I have always thought his medical background is somewhat of an influence for him to be there.
He’s the only person I want to go with to hospital when this time comes and he’s okay to adjust his schedule and be there. This support I have discovered made me braver and I have felt less alone in this experience.
Having fathers participate in maternity care is being encouraged especially in private health facilities. This is mostly possible because of the privacy set up of the labor rooms unlike most public health facilities where labor suite is an open space leaving little or no privacy for mothers hence making it difficult to allow in men who would have loved to be by their spouse’s side during childbirth.
“I seek consent from the mother to have her spouse in the operating room when planning to deliver her by cesarean section’’, says Dr Leevan Tibaijuka, an obstetrician-gynaecologist working at Mbarara Regional Referral hospital.
The father in some cases participates in “cutting the cord”, carries the baby immediately and if okay dresses up the baby.
This presents a great opportunity to initiate the very first father–baby bond, which has long-term positive outcomes for both the mother, the father, and the new baby, he says.
A study by Chan & Paterson-Brown in 2002, suggests that women who have the support of a partner during labor require less pain relief and feel more positive about the birth.
Another study carried out in 2005 by Latifses et al, established that teaching massage and relaxation techniques to fathers to assist during labor is an effective way to increase marital satisfaction, and decrease postnatal depressive symptoms.
With modern fatherhood, more men are actively getting involved in maternity care, a fundamental bridge in supporting the wellbeing of couples, families, and society as a whole. Fathers in maternity care may seem a new territory for many of us but it is to be embraced.
The writer is a nurse/midwife