Having a baby can last anywhere from a few minutes to (unfortunately) a few days. The whole process can be quite brutal, and made even more brutal when you'er dealing with infuriating things your partner might do when you're pushing. After all, pushing is the big show; the moment everyone's been waiting for. So, if you've invited a partner into that zone and he, or she, is programmed to auto-annoy, it might make the whole thing feel so much worse than it has to be.
By nature, pushing a baby out of your body is a lot of work. When I was in labor with my first child, I remember getting to that surreal moment when the nurses and doctor told me, "It's go time," but not really knowing what "go time" meant, or what to truly expect. During that whole pushing period, my partner was pretty supportive. We were first-time parents so everything about it felt magical and life-altering.
Everything about my second labor and delivery, however, was the exact opposite. Maybe it's because we'd already "been there, done that," and my partner felt like he didn't need to be as supportive or present. Maybe he didn't realize how crazy he was making me by doing all those truly annoying things he seemed hellbent on doing. Whatever it was, he's lucky to have made it out of that labor and delivery room alive because, well, there are just some things every grown-ass man should do when his partner is in labor (whether it's your first baby or number ten).