When Dr. Alastair Cribb was born 60 years ago, the midwife on duty wanted to rush the birth before his father got home.
That’s because she was afraid his father, Dr. Peter Cribb, a veterinarian with a practice in the family home in Yorkshire, England — where Alastair’s birth took place — would treat his newborn son like a just-born calf. There was fear he would hold Alastair upside down to drain amniotic fluid from his lungs. And, stimulate his nose so he would take his first breath.
That’s how Dr. Cribb handled the birth of Alastair’s older sister.