Helping her as the due date nears
Research family-leave options, since being available once the baby arrives is perhaps the most important way you can be supportive. Ideally, both parents will be able to take at least four to six weeks off from work around the baby's delivery date. Remember, waiting for a baby to come is no picnic. If your partner finds herself still pregnant past her due date, attend to her needs, both physical and emotional. This can be an extremely uncomfortable time.
Foot and body massages for the pregnant woman can't be beat! You can hire a massage therapist or bodywork specialist or send your partner to a spa, but getting a massage at home from the one she loves may make her feel the best of all. Your massaging her can add to the growing bond you both feel as you approach labour and delivery.
Finally, take a prenatal class together and decide together what kind of labour you hope for. Educating yourself about what physically happens during labour will make you much more helpful to your partner when the time comes. In a calm moment, work together on a birth plan, knowing that you won't have ultimate control over the events that will transpire. Where will you be having the baby, and what types of pain medication will your partner want? Who will be present at the delivery and who will not? Most likely, it will be your job to be the gatekeeper, and it will be much easier to limit people ahead of time than to be in the position of asking a close friend or family member to kindly leave the room during delivery.
Being there for her during the labour
Take a deep breath. If you can stay calm, it will help her stay calm.
Do your best to stick to the birth plan. Early on, a big part of this will be reminding her that there's a break between each contraction. Trust her intuition about when it's time to go to the hospital. You may be the one with the stopwatch, but she'll be the best one to determine when her contractions are strong enough and close enough together to be close to giving birth.
Page 2 of 3 -- Learn what to expect when you first bring Baby home on page 3
