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PARTICIPATION IN THE CHILDBIRTHFather School: S tep by StepDuring the class, you should support fathers' interest to be present at their childbirth. Not everyone isready to participate in the childbirth. Considering whether to enter the delivery room or not, men often hesitatebetween the wish to be by their laboring wife and fears that watching the wife giving birth will be unpleasant.If possible, you should invite a man, who participated in the birth, to the class and discuss the subjectwith the group.Topics for discussion: What do I know about participatory childbirth? Do I have any friends who were present at birth? Have you discussed with you wife your possible participation in childbirth? There is an opinion that men faint in delivery room. Do you know of such cases? They say that men present at childbirth lose sexual desire for their wives. What do you think about this? Do you know how participation in childbirth is organized? Why do men participate in childbirth? Does father’s presence in delivery room influence doctors' attention to mother and baby? Have you ever attended classes preparing to participatory childbirth? How do you plan to use your time after the baby is born? Do you plan to take a short leave from your job?If you have an Internet access, you can show your group an instructional film demonstrating participationin childbirth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEIeX-_McewLIFE PUZZLEHere is a group good exercise. On a flip chart pad draw a circle that represents 24 hours.Participants are asked to schematically allocate times spent on different activities. It is better to start withwork time that is more standard (about 7 to 8 hours) followed by: time for sleep; time for meals; time for communicating with relatives/friends; time for entertainment (TV, computer, etc.); time for housekeeping.The result may look like this:138318workinghaving mealsentertainmentsleepingcommunicatinghousekeeping49