Painless Birth

A married couple went to the hospital to have their baby delivered. Upon their arrival, the doctor

said he had invented a new machine that would transfer a portion of the mother’s labor pain to the

father. He asked if they were willing to try it out. They were both very much in favor of it. The

doctor set the pain transfer dial to 10 percent for starters, explaining that even 10 percent was

probably more pain than the father had ever experienced before. But as the labor progressed, the

husband felt fine and asked the doctor to go ahead and bump it up a notch. The doctor then adjusted

the machine to 20 percent pain transfer. The husband was still feeling fine. The doctor checked the

husband’s blood pressure and was amazed at how well he was doing. At this point they decided to

try for 50 percent. The husband continued to feel quite well. Since it was obviously helping out his

wife considerably, the husband encouraged the doctor to transfer ALL the pain to him. The wife

delivered a healthy baby with virtually no pain. She and her husband were ecstatic. Then, when they

got home, the mailman was dead on their porch.