Currently, water births attract many participants due to advantages like shorter labor, reduced pain, smaller incisions, and lower overall costs compared to cesarean sections. Building on this, a Shanghai hospital has pioneered "couple-assisted water births," where husbands accompany their wives into the birthing tub. In the water, husbands can assist with delivery while providing emotional and physical support, facilitating a smoother birth for the baby.What are your thoughts on "couple water births"? As a husband, would you participate in this type of water birth?
I no longer have reasons to delay
Tong Peipei, 28, Accountant
My grandmother gave birth to eight children, including my father, yet I never heard her complain about the pain of childbirth. My mother, however, often lamented the excruciating pain she endured giving birth to my brother and me.Now that it's my turn to give birth, I feel increasingly paralyzed by fear, so I keep putting it off.
It's not that I dislike children, but I dread the labor pains. My husband and I had agreed that if we ever had kids, it would only be via C-section. Then I heard that C-sections aren't entirely safe either, and the post-surgery incision is excruciatingly painful.This only deepened my dread of childbirth. Now that "couple's water birth" exists, I'd insist my husband accompany me.
Childbirth is inherently a shared journey. It's unfair to make women endure labor alone while husbands wait outside the operating room. Having a husband present during delivery provides emotional support, giving the mother greater strength and deepening the couple's bond.
When husbands personally witness their wives' labor pains, they gain empathy for motherhood and cherish their children more deeply. Water births—with shorter labor, less pain, and smaller incisions—hold immense appeal for women like me who dread childbirth. My husband seized this like a lifeline, rushing to tell relatives and friends that I'd finally come around and agreed to have a baby. Now I had no excuse to delay.
The Gap Between Imagination and Reality
Guo Yuan, 32, Advertising Planner
My wife's due date is the 24th of this month. Having spent years planning promotions for others' products, I'm now pouring all my energy into creating the perfect birth album for our own child.Ever since learning of her pregnancy, I've photographed her monthly, closely documenting her belly's growth. Last week, we even took her to the hospital for an ultrasound picture of the baby. Now, everything is ready—we just await the baby's arrival. To make it special, I considered water birth for my wife, planning to be present to assist her while filming the entire process.
But now, I've abandoned that idea. First, my wife won't be giving birth in water because the hospitals near our home don't offer water birth facilities. After inquiring, I found out that only one or two hospitals in all of Shanghai provide such services.Most crucially, I no longer plan to witness this momentous occasion in person. A colleague of mine attempted this before me, but the experience proved far less heartwarming than imagined. Upon seeing the newborn covered in blood, he fainted. It took him a full week to overcome his psychological barrier and find the courage to hold the infant.
Her firsthand experience taught me that imagination and reality can be worlds apart. Take childbirth, for instance. I’d imagined accompanying my wife through labor would be romantic and tender, a shared effort. But in truth, I ended up being more of a hindrance than a help. If that scene were moved underwater, wouldn’t it become even more chaotic?