Brenda i agree with you, it would feel really strange, personally i wouldnt if i were in his shoes, ide porbably be really frightened
My future husband WILL be present every single time I give birth. That's something I'm gonna make sure to talk out with him and make it clear to the doctor before. And if the doctor says he/she won't allow it, then I will find another doctor/hospital that will. Nothing in Islam prohibits it. The husband is not seeing any part of his wife that he hasn't seen before. If my husband's gonna be there when I get pregnant, he sure as hell gonna be there when I give birth.
Even in Pakistan, the policies of hospitals vary. I know several of my relatives in Pakistan where the husbands were in the delivery room. Some doctors (esp. female docs) do not allow husbands during delivery. Some hospitals do not even allow husbands to stay the night in the room.
Pakistani doctors do not allow husbands in case of surgery (C-Sec). But in US, the husband is advised to join the wife even in C-Sec cases. Also because for C-Sec, now they don't give general anesthesia but rather only Epidrual.
Munni, there ARE people who go it alone, but it requires both thorough preparation as well as calm and inner faith, and of course a back-up system in case help is required. I have heard of many women who have given birth on the way to the hospital... or while waiting for the midwife at home, and as far as I know things went fine. There are also websites dedicated to this - do a search for unassisted childbirth if you are interested. Obviously a husband can make a lot of difference in these cases.
Chldbirth is not a disease, it's a natural physiological phenomenen, and many modern day interventions cause unnecessary complications. While modern medicine has accomplished things that could not have been dreamed of only 20 or 30 years ago, one also needs to remember that the real miracle is nature, which allows a child to be conceived and grow; birth is only an extension of this miracle.