The story of a husband left alone in front of the delivery room just before the birth

A story about the time of childbirth.

We had originally planned for me to be present at the birth, but honestly, I hadn't made up my mind until the very last moment.

The reason is that I was scared when I imagined the scene before me—my wife in pain, the bleeding, and so on; that was my honest feeling.

And then, the time finally came.
Labor pains started in the middle of the night, and we came to the hospital.
We were guided to the labor room and waited while monitoring the situation until active labor began.
Little by little, the intervals between contractions shortened, and the cervix began to dilate.

When active labor arrived and it was time to move to the delivery room, the midwife asked me, "Will you be present?" and I was bewildered.

Seeing me like that, the midwife said, "There is still time, so it's okay to think about it," and my wife went ahead to the delivery room.

I was very grateful for her consideration, but more than that, I felt a surge of self-pity for my own pathetic behavior.

Left alone in the labor room, I looked up how other couples in the world handle this, and I was surprised to find that it was split about fifty-fifty between those who attend and those who don't.

Among those, an opinion from the wife's side caught my eye: "I don't want to be seen while giving birth."

At that moment, a story from the Kojiki came to mind.

The story of Hikohohodemi and Toyotama-hime.

Toyotama-hime was the daughter of the Sea God, married Hikohohodemi, and lived with him in the sea palace for three years.

When the child was about to be born, Toyotama-hime asked Hikohohodemi this:

"Those from a foreign land return to their original form when giving birth. So, please, never peek into the birthing hut."

But Hikohohodemi could not resist and peeked inside.

Toyotama-hime's original form was of the Sea God tribe—the form of a giant crocodile.

Realizing she had been seen, Toyotama-hime said.

I was seen. Even though I had intended to stay here the whole time...

A sad episode about someone who left only their newborn child behind and returned to the sea.

The feeling of not wanting to be seen while giving birth.

The fact that Toyotama-hime said 'don't peek' and that there are wives who feel they 'don't want to be seen'...

I interpreted it as a fear of exposing one's true self, different from the image one usually presents, and I started to think that perhaps I shouldn't be present, following the Kojiki.

But then I paused for a moment.

No, this was just a convenient interpretation for myself, and I felt that if I didn't attend, I would definitely regret it.

Then, the midwife came to call me, so I replied immediately, 'I'm coming!' The midwife looked a bit surprised. Well, that's only natural since I had been so hesitant until just a moment ago (lol).

I decided to be present not out of curiosity, but simply because I didn't want to have any regrets.

Toyotama-hime didn't want to be seen. But my wife wanted me to be by her side. So I wanted to live up to my wife's expectations.

I made up my mind and entered the delivery room.

Then, something happened that I hadn't expected.

It was surprisingly quiet, and while she was clearly in pain, she used breathing techniques skillfully and gave birth in about 30 minutes.

The midwife was so impressed that she said she wanted to record it on video to use as a reference for other expectant mothers.

My wife told me this after the baby was born.

"You got cold feet right at the last minute. I thought you weren't going to be there for the birth (lol)."

She was absolutely right.

She told me one more thing.

"Also, your timing for wiping my sweat was so bad that it distracted me from pushing."

......I showed up, but I just got in the way.

Hikohohodemi peeked even though he was forbidden to look. I was asked to be there, but I ended up being a nuisance.
Even if the circumstances were different, the outcome was pretty similar, wasn't it?
I've added another episode to my collection of oblivious husband stories.

I've added another episode to my collection of oblivious husband stories.