As a partner watching their loved one endure nine months of pregnancy, followed by childbirth is just too much for some men.
An episode of One Born Every Minute has confirmed this horror on camera in scenes which is likely to make some guys laugh – and women curse.
In the episode, as wife Amy struggles through contractions, dad-to-be Ben can be seen flagging in the background before totally crashing to the floor, hitting a chair on his way down.
According to his girlfriend, Ben is going through a ‘sympathy pregnancy’ and has been ‘very emotional throughout.’ I mean, becoming a parent is emotional stuff but you don’t have to push a baby out of your bum, do you know what I mean?
Anyway, it all got too much for him – watch it here:
Their child was conceived just 3 months after the pair met in their work car park, according to The Sun.
Ben said:
It shocked me. The emotions have changed. You’ve turned me into a right softie. I just feel like I’ve got to be strong for her. So I need to man up a bit, to be fair.
Amy added:
From the minute we found out we was pregnant he has been extremely emotional…that has been nice to see.
In the clip, Amy expresses concern after Ben hits the ground.
The midwife then calls for help, asking one of her colleagues to look out for him and check his head while she takes care of Amy.
Sympathy pregnancy may sound as convincing as consolation periods, but it’s a thing.Well, at least according to Baby Centre:
Interestingly, more than a few dads-to-be go through what’s commonly called ‘sympathetic pregnancy’.
It’s also known as couvade syndrome (the word comes from the French word couver, which means ‘to incubate’). The symptoms tend to appear in men during the third month of their partner’s pregnancy, as well as toward the final weeks before birth.
A 2007 study by Arthur Brennan, a senior lecturer at St. George’s, University of London, followed 282 future dads.
It showed some men, whose partners were pregnant, develop their own pregnancy symptoms, such as nausea, dizziness, hormonal fluctuations, back pain, cramps, irritability, and even cravings.
We hope that Amy, Ben and their child are doing fine.