The stars of delivery are women and infants, but fathers play an essential role as well. A supportive companion may make a huge difference in labor and delivery, from rubbing a weary mother-to-back is to remind her of her strength when she is most vulnerable.

The stars of delivery are women and infants, but fathers play an essential role as well. A supportive companion may make a huge difference in labor and delivery, from rubbing a weary mother-to-back is to remind her of her strength when she is most vulnerable.

#1 “This mom told me: ‘Having Josh hold and support me helped me focus. He was like an anchor – something to hang on to and hold me together.’”

#2″Complete happiness! This was the couple’s second daughter, born at home.”

#3 “This dad labored through intense contractions alongside his wife. Sometimes I’d look at him and know he was feeling her pain, too!”

#4 “After a rather traumatic birth experience with their first child, this couple’s birth was filled with moments of love and peace. I loved how they were working together, holding hands while she was circling on a birth ball.”

#5 “Fatherhood begins long before babies make their appearance. Endless love and unwavering support during labor and deliver are just one of the many ways!”

#6 “This mother was determined to have an unmedicated birth in the hospital. It was so moving to watch the two of them working together.”

#7 “This mother is in transition — that intense period of time just before pushing — without the use of epidural or pain medication. She had a doula present, but her husband was her true anchor.”

#8 “This daddy helped deliver his son who was born en caul during a home water birth!”

#9 “This was baby number four for this couple, and the dad is as excited as if he was becoming a father for the very first time!”

#10 “This contented father gives skin-to-skin contact to his firstborn twin boy in the OR after the NICU nurses attended to him.”