Both births were emotional events. I'm sure I was able to give support and emcouragement to my partner. The birth of my first child was weird for me as my partner had been given a drug (pethidine?) and for what seemed like several hours of her labour she was on another planet.

With my second child my partner had a bath at the hospital to relax her. She kept topping it up with hot water, and when I noticed her contractions were very close it was hard to persuade her to get out.