14 Dads Reveal the Most Unexpected Things They Experienced During Their Wife's Pregnancy
1. "It's funny. Nine months sounded like so far off when we first got pregnant. Three-quarters of a year is a hefty chunk of time. But I had to adjust to RSVPing to weddings or planning vacations and realizing 'OK, well, I'm going to be bringing a newborn through an airport then.'" -Rick, 32
2. "I wasn't expecting how emotional I got. It was like 6 months into the pregnancy and I got really sappy. It wasn't anything like my wife, where just hearing the word 'baby' could sometimes make her cry with joy. But I had a moment or two where I teared up seeing the baby on the sonogram or lying in bed with my hands on my wife's belly. I'm really not like that typically, and I'm not even really like that with my daughter now. But I think it's true what they say, that the pregnancy can even affect the husband's hormones." -Aaron, 34
3. "My wife being in constant pain. Initially, every time she got an ache or a cramp, I was ready to drive to the ER. I'm typically not the kind of person to worry, but this was so different. I had to learn to stop freaking out so much. Spoiler alert, though: if I thought the pregnancy made me worry, actually having a kid made me worry even more." -Jordan, 32
4. "For me, it was realizing that everything is basically a death trap. Including in our own house. There was so much to baby-proof and put away. Bookshelves that can fall over. It's frightening. I feel like if my wife didn't remind me that babies really don't move around for months, I would've gotten rid of everything we owned." -Christopher, 33
5. "I had a really transcendent moment of understanding before my son was born. I'm lucky that three of my four grandparents are still alive and were around for his birth, but it was weird for me to realize that they're not going to be around him forever the way I had them growing up. And that when I was born, my parents had that same kind of relationship with their grandparents who got to meet me when I was an infant. I think we all have a tendency to think of ourselves as the main character in a story, like we're the focal point. But it's humbling to realize who we are to others and all the things we don't get to experience and see. I know that isn't particularly deep, but it just happened to hit me really hard." -Michael, 36
6. "My parents weren't really around much when i was growing up. I spent a lot of time grappling with the idea that I could make the same mistakes…sins of the father and all that. I also spent a lot of time grappling with the idea that just because that's how I was 'raised' doesn't mean that's all I know and I can be a good dad." -TJ, 28
7. "My daughter used to kick me whenever I cuddled with my wife in bed. It was cute, but it's also really weird feeling a miniature human kick you through your wife's skin." -Mike, 31
8. "I'm pretty sure every other week or even every day I would change my mind on whether I wanted a boy or a girl. I know everyone always says that they don't care, but secretly everyone has a preference. And I feel like mine always changed until I was about to go crazy. I guess what surprised me was I always assumed I'd want a boy to do all the stereotypical stuff with but play catch with dad. But I was really, really excited to have a girl." -Brett, 32
9. "The weirdest thing was how not-freaked out I was. The closer we got, the more zen I was about the whole thing. I don't know. I was really OK with the idea of being in charge of a baby, when I maybe should've been freaking out that my life was changing forever." -Dylan, 30
10. "All the thought that goes into what you need for the baby. I'm one of those people who needs to research everything before he buys a TV or any major purchase really. What's the best? What are all the features? What are the different options? I'm pretty anal. I spent hours looking up stuff for the baby: the best stroller, the safest car seats. What's the easiest high chair to use? I spent weeks debating what material the bottles should be. And the funny thing is, with the exception of the safety concerns, most of this doesn't really matter. Some of these things he's only using for a few months, maybe a few years. At least the TV we'll have for 10 or more." -Greg, 33
11. "I had to come to terms with the idea that I couldn't prep as much as I wanted to. There's a lot out there to learn. Some of it is contractitory. Some of it says, 'your baby could be like X but also could be exactly the opposite, like Y.' -Harry, 31
12. "At one point in the pregnancy, my wife was going to bed at 8 p.m. No joke. It was really weird having our quality time be about two hours. And then I had the place to myself afterwards." -Jeff, 30
13. "Hands down, just adjusting to a living being in your wife's stomach and actually seeing it move her stomach is...so weird. So, so weird." -Ian, 29
14. "We had this little home office with a futon in it tucked away in the corner of our house that we never, ever used. There were the rare occasions we had guests, but otherwise we didn't have a reason to go in there, but we passed it every day. That room wound up becoming the nursery when we got pregnant. And then it was like this whole other room. Passing it every day was this reminder that there was a baby on the way, and as it got closer it kept changing and filling up with new things. It was weird for this was a room I never paid attention to, and now it was the most important room in the house." -Ethan, 32
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