When Dads are Excluded from the OB
June 14, 2009
 Photo attributed to Daquella manera For some expectant dads, the joy, excitement and anticipation they experience as the pregnancy progresses can be outweighed by the bitterness they feel at the way they're treated by their partner's doctors. Sadly, most men who go to their partner's OB appointments feel just like you do: as though they're cute or novel or just annoying. And a big percentage of expectant dads complain that medical professionals - OBs, nurses, ultrasound technicians, and support staff - tend to treat them as though they're little more than intruders or spectators and the mother is the only one worth dealing with. If they get talked to at all, it's only to discuss the ways they can support their partners. The fact that the dad-to-be might have some specific and important needs, concerns, questions, worries, or anything of his own else rarely seems to occur to anyone. Fortunately, this isn't true of every medical professional. Some OBs will go out of their way to include the dad in the process. They make a special point of looking at him while talking about what's going on with his wife and baby, they encourage him to ask questions and they answer them thoroughly and respectfully. 
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