You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘pregnant’ tag.
It took me a while to get it, to work out exactly how I felt about waiting for our little baby, but I got it. I worked out what that feeling was. It was like waiting for that package to arrive in the post, the one you really really want to be on time, but deep down you know it won’t be, and you also know that you can’t really do anything about it, apart from get inpatient and frustrated. Thats how I feel! A little bit more extreme and excited, as the package is the most exciting package I have ever had the pleasure to be waiting for, but that is the closest thing I could think of – weird aren’t I?!
I know Little Lara isn’t late yet, but because I got myself prepared for her to be early, I kind of convinced myself she would be, so now I am getting inpatient. I know it’s my own fault, and I am not blaming the package or the ‘courier’.
My emotions have been pretty up and down this last week, I go from ridiculously excited and unable to concentrate, all the way through to all out fear, and pretty much every emotion you could imagine in-between those 2. The fear I’ve had, tucked away in the back of my head has not disappeared at any point through this journey, the fear of being a bad Dad scares the bejesus out of me. The standards have been set for me, as I have grown up around a lot of amazing Dads. My Dad, the man I would personally call the ultimate Dad. My Dads Dad, Grandpa, the guy who taught my Dad everything. My uncle Mike, who was my 2nd Dad and was as good to me as he was his own children. Obviously I know many more amazing Dads, but these are the 3 men i have learnt the most from, and the one thing I can link them all with is as well as being related to them, they have all been a great friend to me, someone I could turn to for help, advice, or just to have a bit of a joke with. Between them they have taught me to walk and talk, been my football coach, taught me how to play pool and table tennis, taught me to ride a bike, taught me to enjoy hiking up the Welsh hills in the pouring rain and high winds – and enjoying it! The list goes on and on, but the point is, I have no excuse to be a bad Dad, and for that very reason I am convinced that I will be fine. I have many memories to call on that I’m sure will help me out in various situations, and I know I am only a phone call away from some advice. And I expect to be making a few phone calls.
In Lara news, we thought we may well be spending the night in hospital last night. We thought we were about to meet our little girl. But, it was not to be. I think it was just her bodies reaction to the busy day that it had just been put through. A whole days christmas shopping proved to be a little bit too much for a heavily pregnant lady – who would have thought?!
We even had my Mum on standby, ready to come over and to start the preparations to get us to the hospital, but it all proved to be a false alarm. At least now I will know how it will kind of feel, when it does happen. I just hope my hand recovers in time, because it got well and truly squeezed last night!
Here are a couple of photos of bump:
Now that we can count down in days, we know it’s really about to happen. I am fairly calm and very excited, and cannot wait to meet Little Lara. Lara is extremely nervous now, I think because she has got her driving test out of the way (Lara passed her driving test. While she was very pregnant. What a woman! Wahoo), she now has just the due date to aim for, and so all her thoughts and worries are about that.
We’ve started making the final purchases and plans ready for when Little Lara arrives, and I think, I hope, I pray, that we have everything we need and everything ready for her. I’m sure we’ll find out if we haven’t. Not only have we had to get all the things she will need ready, but we have had to start thinking about her Christmas presents, and Christmas outfits. At one stage she was set to have about 20 different outfits on Christmas day, but I think we’ve now got her down to a more sensible 3… for now.
We welcomed a beautiful little girl to our family this week, my cousin Stefan and his girlfriend Stef (yes, Stefan and Stef) finally got to meet their little girl, Isabella, after she was about 2 weeks over due. And talking to Stefan about how he’s feeling has just made me even more excited about meeting Little Lara. I struggle to concentrate sometime, just because I’m so excited.
Lara has said she is now ready to ‘get this thing out of her’ – she means that in the nicest possible way I’m sure. But she really is starting to get quite limited as to what she can do. Traveling, sleeping, sitting, standing, eating are all becoming pretty awkward, so I can see her point. Pretty sure Little Lara is ready to come out now too, she has been punching around in there, trying to force her way out so that she can properly hang out with everyone, instead of just being stuck inside Mommy’s tummy listening to everyone talking about her. How rude we are!
Lara had another Midwife appointment last week, and was told everything is still good, and going to plan – which is the exact news we wanted.
6 Weeks to go, wow the time has flown by! I can still remember, vividly, the moment me and Lara found out we were going to be parents, and seeing that little blue line on that little plastic stick. The feelings that flooded my head, the excitement, the fear, the utter confusion of how we were going to do it.
I still have all those feelings now, but I also have been able to find a lot of answers to the questions I was asking myself. Either by asking other people, reading books, or just working it out in my own mind. I still have hundreds of questions going through my head, but I’ve pretty much accepted that’s how it will be for some time to come.
To think that this journey will be ending soon, is crazy. The fact we’ve almost made it through our full 40 weeks, is so incredible, and we really could not have made it without the love and support of all the friends and family around us. It reassures me so much, knowing that we have so many people close to us that are happy and more than able to help us. This little girl will have such a huge extended, loving family as well as her own amazing family, just like me and Lara both had when we were growing up, and it worked pretty well for us!
Obviously when this journey ends, a whole new more incredible journey will begin, Little Lara’s life! And that is going to be one hell of a journey I’m sure, and the responsibilities that come with that are huge, but they are responsibilities I cannot wait to take on. I am 100% convinced that I am as ready as I will ever be, to take on this exciting challenge. I can’t wait to meet my new best fried, and to introduce her to all her family and friends and to show her all the new things that she will get to discover for the first time. I even had a chat with Hugo and Dusty (Hugo is Mum and Dads dog, Dusty is my Cat that still lives with Mum and Dad) and got them prepared for the new arrival, and warned them not to get too jealous. They didn’t seem too interested, Hugo was more worried about wiping his dirty wet mouth on my jeans, but at least now he can’t say I didn’t warn him!
I was talking with my Mum today about plans for when Little Lara arrives, and about Christmas, and it just got me so excited. Not only can I not wait to meet my little girl, but I can’t wait for everyone else to meet her. I can’t wait to see her Uncle, my Brother Nick to be holding her, or for my Dad to be playing with her on Christmas morning. It’s going to be great!
Lara’s Dad has also booked his flights to come over and visit his first Grandchild at the end of January, which is so exciting. I can’t wait for those guys to meet. I have no doubt he’ll be telling her lots of his amazing stories, even when she is only a couple of months old. It will also mean that we’ll have another pair of hands around the house for 10 days or so, which I am imagine will be incredibly helpful at that point, as I will be well and truly back to work by then, so Lara will be more than happy for the help.
All is well with Lara and baby. Little Lara has stopped pushing up behind Lara’s ribs now, and just seems to be wandering around and exploring her first home. I guess she wants to make the most of the nice warm stomach while she is still in there. The braxton hicks contractions have calmed down a lot in the last few weeks, but Lara did have some nasty ones on Friday that made her feel a bit rubbish, but you would never really tell. Lara has been fantastic through this pregnancy. I have no real idea how it all feels, but from what I’ve read, it is very uncomfortable for a lot of the time. But Lara has very rarely complained, and has just got on with it and looked after herself and Little Lar perfectly. She is going to an incredible Mom, I will have the most amazing family!
Here is a video update from a very pregnant Lara:
So Little Lara can now hear pretty well, so well in fact that whenever we talk about her, she gives Lara a nice big kick to let us know she can hear. She even did it last night when we were talking with Lara’s Mom on Skype. It’s so funny. She also responds if you poke the bump, which is a lot more fun for me than it is for Lara. The other time she likes to kick a lot is when Lara gets in to bed and go to sleep. This is apparently because in the day when Lara is walking around, the movement slowly rocks Little Lara to sleep, so when Lara finally starts to rest, Little Lara is wide awake and starts her exercise. A lot of the time this make Lara jump, which in turn makes me jump, which keeps everyone awake. I guess it makes good practice!
We got more gifts sent over from Lara’s best friend Amy, her husband Matt and their little boy Levi this week. They have been so generous, I think it’s mainly because Lara having a baby has given Amy a nice excuse to shop for girls things. But one of the gifts she sent over were some socks for Little Lara, which are probably, the softest, cutest, BESTEST socks in the world. Ever! I am getting me a grown up pair!
We also got another surprise present from Lara’s Mom, this time she sent us a rocking crib, which is absolutely perfect. It’s much smaller than her cot bed, so it means we can fit it in our room for the first few weeks, so we can help settle her in to her new non-womb life. I had a little practice yesterday of taking her out of the crib and passing her to Lara, so she can feed her. I pretty much nailed it, this parenting lark is easy! Well it would be if babies acted like teddy bears, I’m not sure they do though.
I have another video for you all, of the lovely, beautifully pregnant Lara. How gorgeous is she looking? She’s my Yummy Mummy!
As you may have guessed from the images above, we had the first scan last week (Tuesday to be exact). My Mum came with us to share the experience, and what an experience it was!
I always thought the first scan would be a pretty cool experience, but it is truly amazing, if you haven’t been through it, it is very difficult to explain just how amazing it is. As soon as I saw the little thing I just wanted him/her to pop out there and then so I could meet him/her properly. It might have been a bit messy and probably not the safest thing for the baby, so I kept that quiet and didn’t suggest it. But seeing its little head, its little legs crossed (it seemed like a pretty chilled out baby) its arms giving us a wave (turns out the baby likes the camera, no idea where he/she gets that from?!) it just all became so real.
It genuinely gets more real with everything we do, we buy the pram, it gets more real, we see a bigger bump, it gets more real, Lara gets very random cravings, it gets more real. But this really, really made it all seem very real, and I just cannot wait to get this little guy/gal out in to the world and get to know him or her. Hurry up 181 days, I want to be a Dad!
I wondered how I would react to the scan, would this be my moment when I jump up and down and scream and shout about how excited I am? Will I get extremely scared when I realise that I’m going to be a Dad? Or worst of all, will I not even be able to make out my baby and feel like the worst Dad ever? Well I reacted by doing the first thing, although I did most of it inside my head, because apparently Hospitals don’t like mad people running and jumping around telling everyone they are going to be a Dad, but that’s what I was doing in my head. I was just so excited. I also got at least a few tears in my eyes, and was literally speechless. I wanted to get as close to the screen as I possibly could, so that I could take in of much as him/her as I could. I just didn’t want it to end. I could have watched that little thing all day. Lara might not have been too happy with that as she had a pretty full bladder and was already struggling.
They also test for the likelihood of your baby having downs syndrome at the first scan, they measure the width of the neck and take blood samples from the Mum (so Lara in our case). They told us that if the baby was high risk, we would get a call within a couple of days, but if it was low risk, we would just be sent a letter. Things like this really scare me, so I had a couple of sleepless nights waiting for the news, but luckily for us, we got a letter through a couple of days a go to say the baby is low risk, and has a 1 in 22,000 chance of having downs syndrome.
So that was the scan, and to be honest, that outweighs everything else that happened last week, but to keep you all up to date, we went baby shopping on Monday with my parents (my Dad really enjoyed this, he really loves going shopping), and we got some baby clothes and accessories, we also got the baby its pram, it’s one of those 3-in-1 prams, that seems to come with everything you could possibly need, until the baby is 1 years old and you have to pay more money to buy even more stuff for them.
Lara’s started to get cravings now, and they seem to be mainly for random American food, so American family, you could be getting a lot of requests over the next 6 months to send over some random food items. I just hope Lara doesn’t wake up in the middle of the night and expect me to track down the nearest store selling Kool Aid or some other random american item.
Our baby will have its first big decision to make next Saturday, as England play USA in the world cup, and he/she needs to decide which country it’s going to side with. It’s a big decision, but not a difficult one, if it wants to back the winner he goes with Dad, if not he can go and lose with Mum/Mom.
I TOLD SOMEBODY! And the relief is gooooood!
I know we aren’t officially telling anyone until after 12 weeks, but I’ve told one of my really good friends, who I also happen to work with. I think the fact I had been drinking helped it slip out a little easier, but my wife was there as well and she said I could tell. So I did!
And the reaction was amazing, I knew it would be, but as you’ll already know, I’ve been so worried about telling my friends, in case of a mixed reaction. There was nothing mixed about this, it was mouth wide open and pure excitement. GOOD TIMES!
I’m so glad we’ve finally told someone other than direct family and my wife’s best friend, it’s made it seem so much more real to me. And I’ve found myself day dreaming about what I’m going to be doing with my little boy/girl, taking them to as many places as I can as early as I can, so they can discover all these amazing new things that the world has to offer. Explaining to him/her that they are a Chelsea fan. Introducing them to all out family and friends, buying him/her presents, celebrating his/her’s first Christmas, seeing his/her’s first steps, hearing the first words, which I imagine will be ‘Dad’ or ‘Chelsea’… or maybe ‘Mum’.
So I’m pretty excited now, I’m finally starting to feel fully ready, the scared feeling isn’t there right now, but I’m sure it’ll be back, so I’m just making the most of it.
Although, that said, we went to a party last night, with all our friends, and it did make me think about what we’ll be missing for the next couple of years. Not because we can’t go to any party for the next couple of years, but I imagine things become different. Even if you do go, you will be so tired you will probably be the couple taking a nap in the corner, you’ll want to get home to either put the baby to bed, or if you have babysitters, you will want to get home to make sure the baby is ok, this will be another moment my worrying won’t help with!
It did make me sad thinking about this, but then the thought of telling them all about our little guy/gal inside my wife’s tummy, and seeing the reactions… that makes it all seem better. It’s so exciting!
I think people might be starting to guess now, as my wife was at the party, amongst people with bottles of beer, glasses of vodka and coke, cocktails, vodka jelly, and she has bright pink ‘juice’. In fact, when our friend was taking vodka jelly around to people, she didn’t even ask my wife. Maybe it’s me looking in to it too much, but I think they are starting to guess.
Well they’ll all know for real in about a week and half. Then it really will feel real and I can finally talk about how excited I am. And about how scared I am. And about how expensive it will be. And about how bloody awesome it is!!!!
I guess I should probably give you an update on my wife as well, as she’s kind of a big deal in this whole pregnancy thing.
She is good, she is suffering a bit with back pains, and she isn’t sure if that is to do with the baby or because she has knocked it or pulled a muscle or something. I don’t think it helps with the whole mood roller-coaster though, because yesterday morning that thing went on one hell of a dip. A couple of things hadn’t gone quite right, and it just pushed her off the edge, I think all her emotions suddenly came out. It’s hard for her anyway dealing with these emotions, but she is also so far away from all her family (who all live in the US). I think some people forget this at times, and probably don’t realise how hard it can be for her. But my family are amazing, they treat her as one of them, and give her so much support and love. We’re both so lucky to have them. And fortunately when we go and visit her family in America, I get exactly the same from them. It’s pretty rare I know, but we’ve both done pretty well with in-laws!
Her brother is coming to visit us for 2 weeks on Tuesday, and my wife is so excited about it, she has the full 2 weeks off and is so excited to have her little brother over here, and can’t wait to show him around where she lives now and all the exciting stuff that comes with it.
Other than yesterday morning, this weeks mood roller-coaster hasn’t been too bad, it’s generally been a steady good mood. I like this mood, it’s much more husband friendly. She been a bit tired, but not nearly as tired as she was in the first few weeks. I think maybe she is starting to get used to the whole thing a bit more. Either way she has been amazing, I wouldn’t want to be in her position, it sounds exhausting, so well done to her!
Firstly, after last weeks slight scare, everything is fine. My wife went to see her doctor about the dropped cervix, and it turns out it wasn’t a dropped cervix at all. I won’t go in to all the details, as this isn’t a medical blog, but all is fine and well with both Mother and Embryo Thing. Well I say all is well, she is feeling sick and tired almost 24/7, which doesn’t sound like fun, and it’s really difficult to know what to do. I try to act as normal as possible, to try and help cheer her up, but I think most of the time I’m better off keeping silent and still – I am not very good at this. Her appetite is very strange at the moment too, one minute she wants to eat Chicken, the next minute the site of it makes her want to throw up, cooking dinner is exciting!
So that’s her this week, very up and down and side to side and everything in between. My job is to just roll with the punches. If she wants some Pasta, I make Pasta, but knowing that by the time I serve it, she will want a curry. But it’s fine, because my job as the Man, is to go along with it and support her in any way I can. This meant i was away the whole weekend, on a boys day out with my Dad and Brother on Saturday and helping my cousin move in to his new flat on Sunday. I think she quite enjoyed the quiet time, and used it to catch up on some more sleep.
It’s been another mixed week for my emotions this week, I got offered a new job (start on Monday), which is amazing and I’m so excited, but then I worry about telling my new company I’m going to be having a baby, well not me, but that I am going to be a Dad, and I wonder how they’ll react.
I’ve been thinking a lot about reactions this week. How different people will react. Already the reactions are so mixed, and we’ve only told our very close family. I guess people just deal with these things differently. But I do wonder how my friends will react. Will they think we won’t be seeing them anymore because we are parents and they are not. Will they think it’s too early, or not the right time? Will they judge us? Yes, they probably will, but like all good friends, whatever they’re feeling about it, I know they will be there to support us.
It’s difficult for me, as I’m younger than my wife, she is 28 and I am 23, so a lot of people already seem to judge me for being married. ‘you are so young though’, ‘you’re too young to be married’. Am I? Why am I? Who says I am? It’s something I’ve accepted and I’m used too. Maybe I am a young husband and going to be a young Dad, but this doesn’t make it wrong or right. I know people will react differently, but that would happen anyway, whoever I was.
The problem for me is, I am a worrier, I would love to not be, but I am. I blame this fully on my Dad and his Mum. All 3 of us worry about everything and anything, so just imagine the amount of sleepless nights I’m having at the moment! The silly thing is, I probably lie awake at night thinking about the more silly things, rather than the practical things. The practical things I’m OK with, because I can go to people for advice about them without sounding crazy. But things like ‘Am I too young?!’ can’t be answered, because there is no answer.
That all sounds quite negative, but it isn’t as negative as it sounds. I am so excited about all this, but I think it’s all starting to sink in now. We have so much to think about, and so much to plan and prepare for. And it’s so difficult at the moment, because nobody else knows, and it’s difficult to keep your mouth shut, when all you are really thinking about is that baby. But we can start telling people in about 5 weeks, and I think then it will become even more real. But for now, I must focus on not making my wife feel sick, which is actually impossible, but I’ll give it my best shot.
That was one of the longest weeks I’ve had in a long time. I don’t think having the 4 day weekend helped, but the pregnancy definitely hit home for me this week. It’s been a week of extreme mixed emotions, I’ve been excited, scared, confused, happy and everything in between. For my wife and I, this week has really brought the pregnancy home, mainly because she is now starting to show a lot more symptoms, instead of just that blue faded cross from last week.
My wife has really struggled this week, her cervix has dropped really low, and is extremely uncomfortable for her, and very scary too. It’s so difficult being the bloke at this point because you just don’t know how to help. You can read as many books and Internet pages as you want, but absolutely nothing can prepare you for this. How can you reassure someone about something you have no clue about. I searched and searched for as much information about the feelings my wife was having, and everything comes back so mixed. It was all positive, nothing made me worry at all, but the problems she is having seem to come at different times for different women in a whole mix of severity. So then you try and reassure her with this information, but the information just isn’t very helpful to this poor woman who is lying on the sofa scared her insides are going to drop out.
My Mum has been a huge help this week, as she works at a doctors surgery, she has been able to speak to doctors and try to get as much information as she can, to help my wife feel better. She is also an extremely reassuring person, and has helped my wife to focus and work out the best way to tackle the problems she is suffering. I have no idea how my Dad felt about having to listen to conversations about his daughter-in-laws cervix while he is trying to watch a film. I don’t think it was quite what he had planned for his Monday night, but I have a feeling he may have to get used to such conversations.
As well as the problem with the cervix, my wife has been extremely tired this week, and has been napping when and where she can. So I find myself relegated to the spare room, while she takes over the sofa for a well deserved break. I’m happy to take this relegation, as I’m not the one carrying and nurturing our little fetus.
I’ve found myself getting even more protective of my wife this week, it’s really strange. I don’t want her to do anything, I’m even scared of her going off to work. I know this is crazy, but the stat of 1 in 5 pregnancy’s in the first 12 weeks miscarrying, scares the hell out of me, and I want to make sure I can do anything in my power to make sure we aren’t one of the people that have to suffer than unimaginable pain. The trouble is, I am virtually powerless. Other than supporting and allowing my wife to rest, I feel pretty much helpless. It’s not a nice feeling to have, because I want to be as involved as I can be, but I know that my role is very much from the outside, compared to the role my wife has. That said, seeing the changes she is going through, I do not envy her at all. I’m so proud of the way she is coping with all of this, because it must be so scary for her to know that she has a little fetus/baby/thing growing inside her. She’s being amazing, as I knew she would be.
On a more selfish note, this week I have found myself day dreaming a lot, not just about what the baby will be like, and what sort of parents we’ll be. But just about my past, and the things that I won’t be able to do again, things that will never be the same. Not in a sad way, because I’ve had a fantastic life so far, and done amazing things. But it’s difficult not to look back and think ‘That was awesome, I’d love to do that again’ but knowing that you never will. Even things like popping to the pub with friends for a few drinks. Won’t be doing that again. But then at the same time, I know I will do all those things again, at some stage. Things will just be different, and I’m ready for them to be different. If I can have my own family, I would give up almost anything for that.
When we went over to my Mum and Dads at the weekend, I was sitting in the lounge, in the house that I grew up in, and I think that’s when it really hit me. It’s amazing, I’m going to be a Dad! Not that long ago I was the child playing in this house, in this garden, and soon it will be my child doing that, and no doubt with some of the toys I played with too! I then noticed a picture hanging above the fireplace, it was a picture of my Mum and Dad, me and my wife and my brother and his girlfriend. It was taken on a holiday a couple of years ago in France, an amazing holiday, and it made me all excited, because soon I knew those family pictures, would include a little baby, my little baby. I could picture every one of us in that photo being the one holding him too, and I just couldn’t wait to meet my little baby, and for him/her to meet his/her family.
I know it’s a very long adventure, but this last week has been pretty intense, and I really feel the adventure is starting to begin now. WOW!
A plastic stick with a cross on it. It doesn’t sound like much does it? One little cross, and quite a faded one too. But that little cross, on that small plastic stick, has changed my life forever… I’m going to be a Dad!
Me, a Dad? I’m going to be a Dad? How can I afford this? Will I make a good Dad? What will people think? I’m going to be a Dad!!
That is pretty much what went through my head when I knelt down to check the small window on that plastic stick, and saw that small faded blue cross. It still amazes me that one little cross has such an impact on your life, and on all those around you. But that was what I saw, and that was the news I wanted. I was going to be a Dad. It was going to be my turn to pass on all my wisdom to another little boy or girl… that poor thing!
So to go back a few months, my Wife and I decided that after about 2 years of marriage, we wanted to start a family. It wasn’t a decision we took lightly, we discussed it, debated it and changed our minds quite a few times over the weeks and months of talking about it. So many questions go through your head at this point, can you afford it? Are you mentally ready? Is your relationship strong enough to cope? Do you have room in your relationship for another little human? And you go from saying Yes, to No and back to Yes on every question, quite a few times. But we decided, that yes we were ready, we wanted to have our own family within the next year or so. So we began to plan things, we moved to a two bed flat, my Wife came of the pill, we tried to make ourselves as financially stable as you can.
It didn’t all quite go to plan though, as we were expecting it to take at least 6 months, probably a little longer. It took us 2 months! That was quite a shock, because although we were ready and were planning to have a baby, I wouldn’t say we were trying, we were more practicing. But a couple of weeks ago my wife said to me ‘my period is late’, my first thought, being a bloke, ‘Ok, cool…’, then you replay it again in your head, ‘my period is late’…. ‘Oooooooooh, I see’. So we realise that now would be a good time to get one of those plastic sticks I mentioned earlier, the ones that change your life forever.
The first two we tried, came back negative, which after all the build up, actually disappointed me more than I thought it would. I had built myself up, ready to call my parents and make them happy and proud of me. But it wasn’t to be. So we left it a few days, and my wife was still ‘late’. So we decided that it would be best to do another test, just to be sure, and if it still said negative, she should probably phone the doctor, as being this late isn’t normal… apparently. So in she went, to do her stuff on that plastic stick that changes your life forever. Me doing my bit, walking up and down the hall outside the bathroom and asking every 10 seconds ‘are you done yet?’. I’m not sure that helped her, but it helped me.
Out she comes from the bathroom, looking slightly nervous. She hadn’t looked at the result yet, that was my job, so in I go, the longest 3 steps of my life. Is my life about to change in a way I could never before imagine, or is it all a false alarm?
I stare at it, I look at the instructions and compare the symbols, I stare at the stick again, the stick that has now become the most important thing in my life… I’m going to be a Dad!
I can hear my wife asking ‘What does it say? Am I pregnant’, I couldn’t really answer, it seemed too big for me to just say ‘Yep, yep, you’ve got my baby inside you.’ So I just sat there, waiting for her to come in and check it herself. Once she came in and looked for herself, we both just sat there for what seemed like hours, not talking, just staring at this one plastic stick with a blue faded cross on it. I didn’t know how to react, I was obviously happy and excited, but also I was so incredibly scared. Things had changed forever, in a matter of minutes, and that is a lot to take in, something I still haven’t come to terms with a week later.
It’s so hard to explain the feelings you have, and I’m sure they are different for everybody, but for me it just hasn’t sunk in yet. I know it’s real, and I know what it means, but my brain just can’t seem to process it yet. I feel kind of guilty, because I haven’t yet been jumping up and down celebrating, but I think that is just because it is such a big thing, something that has made my life change forever.
Now was the time I was looking forward to, telling our parents that they were going to be Grandparents for the first time, something I knew my Mum has been looking forward to for about 10 years, and something I knew would make my Dad cry, in a good way. We phoned my wife’s Mum first, as she lives abroad. I won’t go in to too much detail as I feel this is a private moment between a very proud Mum and her daughter, but she took it very well and was incredibly excited! Next was my parents and it was my turn to tell. How do you tell them? Do I build it up? Do I just hit them with it? After building up the courage I eventually called them and my Mum answered, I tried with some small talk, but to be honest, I have no idea what we were talking about, I think something to do with Chicken soup being the most exciting part of her day… that was going to change!
‘So, Mum, I’m pretty sure you’re going to be a Grandmother’, then you here a lot of screaming, laughing and general excitement, I think she took it pretty well. I could then hear her telling my Dad ‘we’re having a baby’, which isn’t strictly true, they’re having a grandchild, but who am I to ruin this moment. My Dads response was one of shock at this point, as he probably thinks HE is going to be a Dad again, ‘Why?!’ he says, then my Mum explains that actually they’re youngest son and his wife are having a child, and it all comes clearer in his mind, and I can tell by his voice he is getting tears in his eyes. My Mum is very much a screamer, whereas my Dad is more of an emotional guy, who isn’t afraid to cry, I am a bit like both I think, I shout, scream and cry, it gets messy!
After this we phoned my wifes Dad, her brother and my brother, and they were all so excited too, I even think I heard a few tears from my father in law, and it is things like that, that make you feel good inside. Because you realise not only is this affecting you, but all these people around you, and in such a positive way. We decided that we weren’t going to be telling anybody else now, not til after 12 weeks, because apparently 12 weeks is the most dangerous time – 1 in 5 pregnancies miscarry in the first 3 months, that’s a scary stat for me.
This week my wife and my Mum went to the first doctors appointment (I couldn’t make it unfortunately), and the doctor went over everything and answered all the questions we had, I think this really helped my wife and eased any concerns she had. We also started reading up on things about the pregnancy and babies etc. It’s going to be quite a journey I think. A lot of ups and downs, a lot of tears, a lot of laughs, a lot of screaming, a lot of money, but luckily no more plastic sticks that change your life forever.
I'm a Dad! 
Recent Comments