Chandra allowed my wife and I to feel more relaxed during our labor.  We wanted to labor at home as long as possible and I personally felt more confident doing that with her present.  We felt more free to focus on the experience rather than spending too much time worrying about what was normal, what was not, and when we needed to worry about heading to the hospital.  We trusted Chandra's knowledge in that regard.  We also found her very helpful in terms of her ability to encourage.  My wife's labor was very slow starting and almost 26 hours long.  Chandra had suggestions to keep the labor active that I'm sure allowed it to be shorter than it otherwise would have been.  When labor got harder near the end, she had helpful coping and encouragement techniques.  Overall, I appreciated the fact that she enabled me to be my wife's best support.  She was very helpful, but remained more in the background and allowed me to be my wife's primary labor partner, which is what we both wanted.  I'm so grateful for her presence and it definitely helped provide the amazing, beautiful and 100% natural birth we desired.  So, my advice to dads?  Use a midwife, hire a doula, and read books such as "The Thinking Woman's Guide to Better Birth" by Henci Goer and "The Birth Partner, by Penny Simkin.  Also, consider watching "The Business of Being Born."  With all this preparation and the support of a midwife and doula, you will be so much more likely to have an awesome natural birth-the safest possible way for your baby to enter this world.

Michael Johnson