Bringing a child into the world is an intense, emotional, rewarding and sometimes traumatic experience for mothers and most birth partners are desperate to be a comfort and support during this momentous event.
But it seems one father-to-be had other priorities.
In a TikTok, a mother told how her baby’s father was more concerned with his stomach than how she was getting on in labour, after stitching a video where two Australian midwives discuss “dad behaviour in labour.”
“It’s when he misses the birth to validate the parking ticket for me,” one of the midwives said as an example.
A TikToker who goes by the user @athome_withjaxon decided to contribute her story to the discussion. She claims in a video that, when she was in full-on labour, the father of her baby decided it would be the perfect moment to pop out to get a McDonald’s and possibly miss the birth of his child.
He made it back to the hospital in time – but he then went on to gobble up the McDonald’s right in front of the mother of his child. She points out that she was incredibly hungry and couldn’t eat, just in case she needed an emergency caesarean section.
Understandably, the mother wasn’t impressed.
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“He went to McDonald’s, came back, ate his McDonald’s in front of me because I wasn’t allowed to eat in case I had a c-section,” she explained in the clip.
To add insult to injury, the woman claims he actually ended up missing the birth anyway after nodding off in the waiting room – all while the TikToker had to get a c-section.
“He then went and fell asleep in the waiting room when I went down for a c-section and my dad was then my birthing partner. That’s what it is for me!”
Since sharing her experience, the video has received 75,000 views with nearly 10,000 likes and dozens of comments reacting to the story.
One person wrote: “These stories do not pass the vibe check.”
“Ohhhh girl that would make me have so much resentment,” another person said.
Apparently, fathers missing births is pretty common, as mothers also shared some of their similar experiences.
One mother wrote: “My hubby fell asleep on the floor and doctors had to wake him up when I went for my emergency c-section. To be fair he hadn’t slept in 48 hours.”
“Mine was asleep on the sofa while I was having contractions,” another mother said.
While another person commented: “Hope you’re not with him anymore.”
After an influx of similar comments, the TikToker detailed in a follow-up how she is no longer with the father of her child.
“I’m not with him, I wasn’t with him at the time of my son’s birth either,” she explained. “We were together four years and married for 14 months. I was six months pregnant when he decided that he just didn’t love me anymore and didn’t want to be with me.”
