As an expectant father you are expected to 'do something'

By Wintergreen

Since the 1970s, fathers have been permitted to be with their wife or partner during labour and delivery (in most western countries anyway). Actually women wanted their husbands to ‘be there’ to help. Prior to the 1970s most women were left alone to labour and really wanted someone to help them cope with labour pain. It took a while longer for
fathers to be permitted into a cesarean delivery.

Most expectant fathers now-a-days have no idea how many and which positive changes have been put into place for expectant mums since the 1970s. So, expectant dads started ‘being there’ at the same time expectant mums had more choices. But what exactly is your role? What are you expected to do?

The Impregnator’s Diary #2 - 2nd Trimester: Broken nipples and bad names

"Like father, like son." That was my wife’s comment as our 20 week scan revealed the sex of our baby in a rather gratuitous fashion. The guessing game was concluded by the graphic image of our boy’s manhood dangling in between his wide-open legs while both his hands were resting casually behind his head. Yeah, that’s my boy! Now we can finally begin to think of the baby as a little boy rather than an ‘it’, and my mother in law can finally stop knitting an endless supply of pink cardigans.

Everything seems to have been moving quickly over the last few months. We have the nursery furniture installed, the pram on order, and lots of cute little outfits that will probably only be worn once. So much money has been spent, and yet so much more still needs to be spent. But it is great fun making the preparations and getting excited about the future. We’ve also been trying to enjoy the present by going out a bit more than usual and having a fantastic short break in New York.