Bridget's Pregnancy Blog

The other morning, I woke up to Justin leaning his head on my belly and trying to hear any thumps. Sweet. It’s been a rough road to get to this place.

From the beginning, I’ve tried to convey that this is our baby, not just mine. I thought it was important to get Justin involved and keep him involved. I talked to him about what went on in the appointments he couldn’t make, shared milestones, etc. And he’s tried hard from the start to stay involved, asking questions and letting me babble on about baby socks and weird biological details.

But it’s hard when the father doesn’t have much involvement in the whole process- at least, nowhere near as much as we women do! While we moms-to-be are going through morning sickness, feeling those first precious movements fluttering inside and hormones gone wild, the guy is usually on the sidelines wondering what to do.

For us, part of the difficulty was getting past the unexpectedness of it all. We had planned to have children eventually, but were thinking of “eventually” as maybe being a year or two down the road. And based on my past experiences trying to conceive in a previous relationship, we were expecting to have to use some medical assistance and maybe take a while before succeeding. So the ease and suddenness with which we went from international adventuring couple having fun across the world to prenatal appointments and contemplating future moves with a baby in tow has been a little overwhelming at times.

It may be a universal thing for the daddy to feel a bit out-of-sorts, though. At one of our early ultrasound appointments, Justin mentioned, “I know this is the right place because all of the men here look as shell shocked as I feel.” Nonetheless, over the course of the seven months we’ve been adjusting to pregnancy so far, he’s adjusted quite well. He’s talking to the belly now, and accompanies me to any major prenatal appointments, including all the ones involving ultrasounds.

I think now that he can really feel kicks from the outside and has seen the baby on ultrasound, he’s taking an active interest. He’s been good, too, with helping me however he can, although he does tease me about being lucky I’m pregnant since it means he has to clean anything I spill on the floor. All in all, I think I am lucky- but not for that reason! I’m lucky to have him here to help me and be supportive, and I know our baby will be lucky to have such a caring and involved dad.