Men and Pregnancy

Everyone has his or her own comfort level with pregnancy.  But my favorite interactions on the subject have come from men.  They are hilarious.  I love them! Who says feminist equals man hater?  You won’t find that over here. 

My husband, after getting over his shock of being a father to a daughter, has been absolutely marvelous….for the most part.  There were those moments of me huddled over the toilet experiencing my worst symptom of pregnancy so far, and he walks in and complains about a stomachache.  Seriously?!?!    As angry as I was, I can only laugh now.  It was also a reminder of why women have the babies.   Besides that, “for the most part” moment, he has been great.  He has done his research.  He gets pregnancy updates every week on his iphone and he has patiently dealt with me waking up in the middle of the night screaming because I have a leg cramp.  He has managed to calm me down as my body changes and after some stranger has said some cruel thing to me.    This journey has just begun for us.  I can’t wait to see what is going to come from him next.

My brother is comfortable with just knowing that baby and I are ok.  He has generously offered to playground test any name we come up with.  He, however, is not interested in ultrasound pictures, those “creep me out.” 

My father still can’t manage to say I’m pregnant.  I think it has something to do with the fact that daddy’s girl is having a girl.  He will refer to me as “the way you are” or “in your condition.” He does check up on me often though. I don’t think he’ll ever know how much that means to me, especially since I don’t have my mother around.

My coworkers are great.  The ones that don’t have kids are learning a lot.  They worry about me constantly.  They make sure I always have a seat, I never carry anything heavy, and if I touch my tummy they jump to make sure nothing is wrong.  Usually my active baby is just breakdancing.  They have also started to notice that there are so many pregnant women out there.  They say it is like buying a new car, after you get it, you see the model on the road all of the time.  One bachelor even cut out an article on how to correctly swaddle a baby and left it on my desk for me.  I find these little details adorable. 

My coworkers that have children are just as great.  They have all humored me and looked at my ultrasound pictures.  They have gone out of their way to make sure they have told me the stories of their wives going into labor.  I love these stories, because I wonder “is this how their wives remember it?”  They have given me advice on what to be prepared for.  One, who almost fainted in the delivery room, reminded me not to be too hard on my husband. 

I have always felt it was my duty to change the world.  And my husband used to say, “you never know, you might change the world by having an incredible child who does something huge like cure cancer.”  Even if she doesn’t cure cancer, she has already had an impact on the men in our lives.