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To most women giving birth and becoming a mother is what they were born to do. This is also very true for a great deal of men to. Starting a family and becoming a father is an exciting yet incredibly scary part of their lives. Being there by the side of your baby's mother when she brings your child into this world must an incredible feeling. In this day and age many, many fathers are in the delivery room acting as the labor partner. My partner was, and to this day it is one of our greatest and proudest moments as we both brought our little girl into this world.

There are many ways husbands can be included in the childbirth and delivery process. Attending the pre-natal classes with your wife and attending the midwife appointments can help prepare you for what is to come. The scans, the internal examinations, the poking and prodding that pregnant woman go through is not the greatest part of this amazing journey. But having your husband there next to you all the way through holding your hand and wiping away your tears (as your hormones are crazy!) can ease it all just that little bit.

Writing the birth plan together is always good as you both get to research what sort of birth you want for your child. Although these normally don't go to plan as your little bundle of joy already has a plan of their own. Deciding where to have you child is the first step, home birth or hospital birth. Look around and ask your midwife for some information.

Packing the hospital bag together will get you both excited (and nervous). Having a list and sorting out what you will have in it is a great way to get you husband involved. He may have a few ideas that you don't, and vice versa. Giving him the responsibility of several, things such as camera, list of phone numbers to call on arrival etc, will help him feel a bit more included.

A few things I had in my birth plan that included my partner were; having him cut the cord, which he actually asked to do, I wanted him to be the first to find out the sex of our child and to tell me after. This he loved the idea of as for the first few moments of our baby's life only he knew the sex, this mad him feel very included.

Remember to let him be as involved as he wants. Try not to smother him as this may lead him to back off a bit. Becoming a dad is not a walk in the park for most men and just thinking of a little person coming out of you is not his idea of fun. Have a sit down and talk about how you may act when you are in labor. Tell him to ignore your insults, yelling and screaming, this is just your body's reaction to hormones and not an attack on him.

Finally if you want or need anything during this process of childbirth ask him. This will help him feel useful and needed. There is nothing worse than having your partner in pain and not being able to do anything to help her. Men look at their role as protecting their wives and helping them and when they cannot do this they tend to panic.

Learn more about this author, Yohanna Farrell.
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