New Dad's Apple Watch Sums Up Reaction to Watching Son's Birth

A new dad has shared a picture of the hilarious message that greeted him on his Apple Watch following the birth of his son.

Tom Stamp took to Reddit to share a photo of the smartwatch's display, writing: " My Apple Watch summing up me watching the birth of my Son in one sentence..."

According to the post, the display read: "Your heart rate rose above 120 BPM while you seemed to be inactive for 10 minutes starting at 20:39."

The post has been upvoted over 18,000 times, with Tom's physical response to the miracle of birth proving highly relatable with fellow Redditors.

Dads occupy a unique and largely thankless role during childbirth but the experience remains a life changing and eventful one for all involved.

Some dads have previously spoken about the shock of seeing their partner giving birth, while doctors have also gone viral after sharing some of the wildest things they have seen fathers-to-be doing in the delivery room. Incredibly, some dads have even been known to miss the special moment after leaving to get some food or even check on the family's cat.

Although women go through the most significant changes both mental and physical, a study published in the scientific journal Cerebral Cortex earlier this year found men experience notable brain changes following the birth of their first child.

Researchers from Carlos III Health Institute in Madrid found first-time fathers lose 1 to 2 percent of cortical volume after their child is born.

A Frantic 30-Minute Drive

Tom was certainly left a little stunned by it all. He told Newsweek they were out at a café in Germany, where they live, when his fiancée began to complain of having contractions.

After stopping off at home to grab their bags for the hospital, they headed off on a frantic 30-minute drive to the hospital in Homburg.

"The entire time she was having contractions," he said. "They were getting more and more aggressive as we got closer and closer to the hospital. When we got there, there was no time to grab anything from the car."

Tom said his fiancée had assumed she was dilating at around 3 centimeters by the time they arrived at the hospital and was planning on having an epidural. However, by the time they got into the delivery room, doctors determined she was "ready for pushing."

"My fiancée has a really high pain threshold it would seem," he concluded.

Within 30 minutes of their arrival at hospital, his son had been born, with Tom largely left to the role of bystander, save for providing his partner with some words of comfort and a hand to hold. Afterwards, he noticed a notification pop up on his smartwatch.

"During all this I was wearing my Apple Watch, and I got this light medical emergency notification about my heart rate being high whilst inactive," he said. "I thought this was the perfect sum up as I was very stressed watching what was going on in disbelief whilst feeling kinda helpless."

The message was subsequently shared to social media where it quickly proved popular.

One Reddit user suggested Tom "must be thinking about the needed college fund during that time" while another reckoned he had "made the mistake of actually looking."

"I looked with our first one," they admitted. "I stood back and just held her hand with the second one."

A third added: "My Fitbit registered 10 straight hours of cardio on the day I gave birth to my son."

Tom said he shared the image because it made him and his fiancée laugh at the time. It wasn't the only pertinent notification he received on the Apple Watch either.

Later, as he was getting their hospital bags in from the car, another appeared that read: "Pause and reflect on how your day has gone."

Tom is just thankful to all the staff at the Homburg hospital for staying calm during what was "a very quick and stressful episode."

"They really were amazing and I'd recommend them to anyone," he added.

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