I am thankful…

…that Michael Odent is not king of the world, for if he were I am quite sure that I would have been barred from the delivery room during the births of my three boys (Time):

Yet, now, in what is sure to stir up some fatherly frustration, to say the least, French obstetrician Michel Odent argues that fathers specifically, and men in general, don’t have a place in the delivery room.

According to Odent, not only are fathers in the way, but because their presence often makes the laboring mother anxious, they may be interrupting the production of a hormone critical to the birth process. The slowed supply of that hormone, oxytocin, may even increase the chances that a woman will have to deliver by Cesarean section.

What about in the home, Dr. Odent, do fathers have a place there, or do they make the laboring mother, and children, anxious, and interrupt the production of a hormone critical to the parenting process?

This just reinforces my long held theory, one formed through both personal and professional experience over the years: just because you’re a doctor doesn’t mean you’re smart.