'Catch Your Baby And Don’t Drop It!' Coron Doctor Involves Fathers In Childbirth

We’ve all probably either witnessed or seen photos of husbands holding their wives’ hands all throughout the process of childbirth and such sight almost always tugs at the heart.

One rural doctor however is taking fathers’ involvement in childbirth and childcare a step further by allowing them to participate in the whole process of delivery and post-delivery care.

Meet Dr. Alleje of Coron, Palawan

Dr. Jose Ramon Martin Alleje, also known as the ‘island doctor,’ says he has delivered hundreds of babies with their fathers’ participation for a decade now and the experience has always been worth it. He successfully delivered a popular waterbirth during Typhoon Hanna back in in 2019.

“It all started with me birthing my own children,” says Dr. Alleje, who moved to Palawan 15 years ago initially serving as the only doctor of Culion and five other municipalities in the Calamianes group of islands. He later put up his own clinic, Dr. Alleje Maternity Island Doctors Clinic, in Coron where has been based since.

“I’m so used to delivering babies before I had my own. But, with my kids, emotions were multispectral. It was a totally emotional experience for me,” shares Dr. Alleje who is married to a local of Culion and with whom he has three children aged 16, 11 ,and 5.

He says that the whole process made him share a special affinity with his children and this is the same outcome he wants other fathers to experience.

Preparing couples for childbirth

Despite his busy schedule as only one of three pediatric/OB-Gyne specialists in Coron, Dr. Alleje doesn’t mind walking both mother and father through the delivery process and training them on how to support each other through prepared childbirth methods, particularly Lamaze.

“I have completely invested in my patients. Maybe because I want to make sure everything comes out right,” he says.

Before the due date, this island doctor wears his teacher’s hat and patiently teaches the pregnant couple what to do and expect during labor. “With Lamaze, I teach the husband how to coach his wife so she will breathe correctly.” Without coaching, the birthing process can be more difficult for the mother and even the doctor.  “When they focus their efforts on breathing, pushing becomes more organized even if there is pain,” Dr. Alleje explains.

Under the Doctor’s skilled supervision, the father’s role goes beyond just coaching his partner. He also takes part in delivering his very own baby.  “When the baby’s head is crowning that’s the time I tell the father to come to my side,” says Dr. Alleje.

He then allows the father to ride on his own fingers once the baby’s head comes out and just follow his instructions. “Once the baby is out, I will slowly withdraw my hands and tell them to ‘catch your baby and don’t drop it,’” he quips.

He said, almost always, the experience never fails to elicit all sorts of emotions on the father’s face. “Di mo maipinta and mga mukha nila,” says Dr. Alleje in an interview with Smart Parenting via Zoom.

He also makes the father clamp and cut the baby’s umbilical cord. “After that I tell them to carry the baby and put it on the mother’s breast.” He says he thinks he is the only doctor doing this in Philippines, adding that there are no rules against it except making sure that everything is kept clean and sterile.

Making fathers more involved in childcare

Dr. Alleje observes that such kind of experience is only the beginning of a special father-child bonding.

When the couple comes back for successive check-ups, he said he always noticed a pattern. “I never see mommy holding the baby—daddy is the one holding the baby and daddy is so involved,” he shares.

“I was right in my concept… After seeing their wives go through all of that, the respect they have for the women in their lives become a hundredfold. The value they have after experience is evident in their children,” he reflects.

Dr. Alleje shares how the same fathers also participate more in childcare from changing diapers to burping so much so that one father even told the doctor that he would also breastfeed his child if only he could.

“They love [the experience] because they know they are not getting it with any other institution,” he says.

Dr. Alleje shares that this whole experience that he has been able to share with new fathers is only one part of his life’s mission as a doctor in Palawan. Beyond pediatrics and obstetrics, he is also a community doctor and has seen all kinds of patients. It is his wish that there will be more young doctors who can look at their vows in a different way.

“If there’s one thing I want to tell young doctors, it’s that that there’s life for them outside of Metro Manila,” he says.  “As a matter of fact, they can give life.” In Dr. Alleje’s case, that’s giving life in more ways than one.