Dr. Darby Saxbe

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745 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 27 Jul

Dr. Darby Saxbe’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Modern Wisdom · The Painful Psychological Cost Of Becoming A Dad - Darby Saxbe - #1129 · 27 Jul 2026 podcast

Even then, dads were kept out of the delivery room.

So it was in the 60s and 70s, really, that dads started to advocate to be present during their baby's birth.

Before that, moms were under heavy anesthesia, and the standard father role was basically hang out, pass out cigars.

and get congratulated by your buddies, right?

So we've seen this big shift and there hasn't been a lot of research on how the couple affects the childbirth experience.

And also what is the emotional impact for both mom and dad when dad is present at birth?

We now expect dads to do a lot of the support that might've been provided by intergenerational kin in previous eras.

And dads aren't necessarily trained for that.

or primed for that.

And so there can be emotional fallout from witnessing a traumatic and stressful birth.

And like you mentioned, the study from my lab, we found that when couples fought in more negative ways during pregnancy, the birth was more medically complex and riskier, and both members of the couple appraised it as being more stressful.

Yeah, exactly.

So we know stress, tension, fear, pain, right?

So when you're delivering an infant, your body has to release and relax.

You have to allow the infant to move down through the birth canal.

If you're clenched up, stressed, and tense, it makes it harder and it's going to feel more painful and it's going to lead to more difficult birth outcomes.

I think it's been really good for some couples, and I think it's been challenging for others.

And it's become controversial, right?

So every sports season, there's a player that can't participate because he has to be present at his baby's birth.

And I think it's really valuable for moms who benefit from having a partner there to provide support.

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