I had one injection of it during one of my labors. It made me feel mellow and kind of drunk between contractions but did absolutely nothing for the pain during contractions. It’s hard to imagine a more useless effect. But maybe it’s useful for some other people. Hey, maybe even Lamaze is useful for some other people. I found that useless, too.
I don’t know about other dads, but it scares the heck out of me reading this thread and that’s after given birth to 2 kids. I didn’t know that many things could go wrong during child birth.
I decided during labor #1 that Lamaze was invented in order to keep the laboring mother so busy with the breathing that she couldn’t scream, not to actually help with the pain.
I was in the middle of the It’s a Small World ride at Disney when my (adopted) daughter was born. I think I’m in the running for the most painful birth. Just kidding, but it’s an indicator of how much I hate Disney World!
@pizzagirl - Stadol doesn’t count. It’s an opiate and crosses the placenta. No thanks! (unless there’s some emergency, of course). We want gas and air, even if it only takes the edge off.
I always thought Lamaze sounded really stupid, I liked Bradley better.
@greenwitch, I suspect that the amount of Stadol they give you is small – to avoid the complications in the baby that you listed.
This is probably also why it doesn’t work worth a damn.
I’ve found the Lamaze breathing/relaxation techniques useful in two situations: when I’m having dental work done, and when I’m driving in stressful conditions–I tend to tense up every muscle in my body without realizing it.
During labor I didn’t find it helpful. I tried, but I couldn’t “breathe.” I just wanted to swear.
Well, I know that there are many men on CC, but for whatever reason, I don’t see that many in the parents forum. However, I did change the thread title so perhaps some y-chromosome opinions will appear.
Well changing the thread title will likely be the kiss of death to this thread.
Yea, I’m guessing few men who may now take a look will want to wade though all these posts. But you never know. Plus the OP seems long gone. But, it is an interesting thread and not dependent on guys anyway!
Yea, I’m sure glad I didn’t know the myriad of things that could go wrong for mom, baby and nervous fainting dad. 
@mathmom said
Me too, it was simpler. Of course now there’s hypnobirthing, spinning babies, birth pools, swings (yes, swings!) and all sorts of … distractions.
Hey, HImom, some of us who have had major stuff go wrong are even crazy enough to do it again! I really had no major risk factors for preeclampsia (not obese, not diabetic, no prior blood pressure problems, not a multiple birth, not over 35, etc.) but it still happened. The only risk factor at all was it being a first time birth. But I knew I wanted my son to have a sibling and I figured I’d give it another shot.
@sevmom, I didn’t have any problem either. After number 2, I asked my husband if he wanted more kids when I was most fertile, especially the first year, and he said he didn’t want anymore than 2 kids. Otherwise I would be working on baby number 3.
I was there for the three births. Highlights of my life.
Preceding the first birth, it was a little boring. I said to my wife, “It is kind of boring. There is no tv in this birthing room”. My wife didn’t like that.
I was also the first person to see my oldest daughter’s dimples. My wife was busy. The doctor was busy. Me…not so much. My daugher came out. Crying…and there were the dimples.
All I could think when I saw the dimples was Wow! Wow! And my daughter has been a Wow ever since the birth! 
“There is no tv in this birthing room.” You’re lucky, dstark. I spent 3 days in the hospital before my first kids’s birth. It was 1987. And George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex” video was everywhere! It was non stop on MTV. Funny the things we can remember even years later.
Nice to have a dad chime in. Thanks.
Sevmom, three days? That is rough.
I like the George Michael story.
I arrived at the hospital for my wife’s c-section at 5:30 am and my stomach was already in knots. Her doctor walked into the waiting room like he was going to a pregame breakfast party. He chomped on a donut with his coffee while reading the newspaper and talking to a fellow doctor. He acknowledged me and then began to smoke a cigar. I wanted him to stay happy and relaxed, but who smokes a cigar this early in the morning in a hospital? He left to go to begin the c-section and I was all alone.
A newly hired anesthesiologist was giving my wife an experimental shot in the operating room. But something went wrong and it didn’t work so they eventually decided to give her the old fashioned shot instead. My stomach was now in double knots as I’d been waiting by myself for over an hour. I had no way of knowing they had forgotten about me due to all of the confusion and the operation running behind.
Finally the door opened, and a nurse told me I must go in right now if I wanted to be present for my dtr’s birth. So I followed her around the corner and walked into the operating room. Just then my wife turned her head towards me and puked her brains out due to the effects of the anesthesia. I stopped dead in my tracks and the nurse asked me if I wanted to go back to the other room. My stomach was now in quadruple knots but I realized I’d never live this down so I came and stood where they told me to. Her doctor joked to everyone that my wife wanted a bikini cut so she would look nice at the beach.
I was given my dtr by someone and followed the nurse to the maternity section where my dtr and I spent a long time becoming acquainted. Five years later our second c-section with a different doctor went smoothly, and all I remember this doctor saying to me was, “Big baby!” I assume he meant my son, but he could have been talking about me now that I think about it.
I actually got a new job the day after my dtr was born. I left the maternity ward and went home to take a shower and the phone rang. I aced the telephone interview because I was still walking on clouds from the day before. I must have sounded like a cross between Robin Williams and Joe Cocker.
See, I knew it was the title that was scaring them off 