If you’re an OB/GYN, chances are you have seen and heard a lot of crazy things.
From treating people who have been woefully under-sexually educated to the chaos that the labor and delivery room can look like during birth, OB/GYNs experience the most personal and intimate moments of a person’s life. And sometimes that includes engaging with a birth partner that says or does something…surprising.
On Reddit, OB/GYNs and the people who work with them are sharing stories about the wild things they’ve seen and the strange things a birth partner has done or said.
And yes, people still ask for the “husband stitch.”
1.
“Not my story, but an OB I work with once delivered a baby for a couple who were tall, pale, Scandinavian sterotypes. He met them about halfway through the pregnancy, they were this funny loving couple that seemed super into each other. Baby starts to crown- dense, thick black hair. Baby comes out—very obviously mixed-race. OB puts baby up on mom’s chest, bracing for the meltdown. Mum starts to cry happy tears. Dad starts to cry happy tears, shaking as he carefully strokes his babies wet bloody afro. Nobody is reacting at all. OB’s mind is melting- do they…not notice? Turns out that loving partner wasn’t baby-daddy. Met mom when she was in early pregnancy, totally aware that the baby wasn’t his, totally aware of the race of the dad. Neglected to mention any of this to the OB, many chortles were had later when everything was cleared up.” — 57555575757
2.
“Back in my OB rotation in med school, we had a pregnant woman who was supermorbidly obese with a BMI in the 70s. During her first prenatal visit, the resident was asking about her pregnancy history, past difficulty with fertility and conception, problems with the pregnancy so far, etc. Pretty standard stuff as far as I understood at the time. Husband then chimed in about the conception. Turns out they had no trouble conceiving…He then went into detail about how the conception went and blew my little inexperienced mind. Basically, the wife’s mother and sister had to help with conception by holding the wife’s thighs out of the way enough that he could get in to do the job. I still don’t have words.” —LesP
3.
“Dad is a 30+ yr ob/gyn. Now retired. He tells a story of a hyper religious couple (Muslim) who came in about difficulty getting pregnant. He examined the woman alone and discovered that she was actually a hermaphrodite/intersex… male gonads, undistended… no uterus, normal vulva/ vagina. The woman was mortified to learn this at 18…she feared her husband would be violent, believing he had been being ‘gay’ by having sex with her. My dad gave her the option to call the police, or ask for help. He and the nurses gave her phone numbers for counseling, and offered discretion when talking to the spouse. She declined everything and asked that they tell the husband together. The man was super upset, and they eventually left the office both in tears. Dad never saw her again, and wonders what happened.” — whatsmyline
4.
“Not exactly mindblowing, but my husband didn’t cut the cord for either of our kids and he got some looks both times but I chose not to do it, either, so I don’t blame him.” — lochnessthemonster
5.
“Not a medic but I have been told by one midwife that a guy asked her to hurry up with the birth as football was starting soon and it’s a cup match.” — Magnus_40
6.
“My Dad is a Doctor and his friend was a OB/GYN and was telling my Dad a time when a couple came into his office and they were having difficulty having a child. They were trying for over year to have a child but the wife never got pregnant. Found out that the man and the woman came up in very strict upbringing and the man was never putting his penis inside her. He was basically rubbing his penis on top of her vagina and would ejaculate across her belly. Then he would take his finger and smear his semen all over the top of her vagina. My Dad’s friend had to explain sex to the both of them and tell them what to do and how to do it. Was an awkward conversation. I just kept thinking…did they not ever watch porn or have that ‘talk’ with their parents? Have they never seen stuff related to sex ever? Was just a crazy story. I wonder if they ever figured it out and actually eventually had kids or not.” — mrsheikh
7.
“My ex boyfriend is an OB/GYN. He got annoyed with me when I was having cramps and said because he was an obgyn he knew exactly what that pain felt like and told me to get over it. Shoulda seen that as the first of many red flags.” — Sendhelpbutactually
8.
“Not a doctor, but pregnant. I told my bf we should make and freeze 1-2 months of meals before the birth, because we’d be too tired to cook. He looked at me knowingly and said, ah, yes, like pureed fruits and vegetables so we don’t have to mash them ourselves. He literally thought you feed the baby baby food from day 1. We’re in our 30s, college educated, he has a huge, close extended family with lots of babies, and he knows I’m going to breastfeed. I guess he thought you do both from day 1?” — eggplantXLII
9.
“There was the guy holding his newborn who was stunned that he’d be going without sex for the next 6 weeks. Somehow he’d made it through the hospital’s baby class without registering that bit of info. He wasn’t mad, just in complete disbelief that it was a thing.” —TragedyPornFamilyVid
10.
“I once had a guy ask me if his girlfriend has been sticking tuna…down there.” — ItsKnightTime101