The fact that you will become a dad has landed in the meanwhile. Now it’s time for other things to worry about: designing a nursery, buying baby clothes and lots of other things that you have never thought of before as a daddy to be.
For weeks you try to dodge the subject nursery. The thought of going to all those horrible baby stores with the mommy 2 be; you can think of lots of other nicer things to do. In the meanwhile the mommy 2 be has dug up a complete list of all the stuff that must be bought: a real layette. Now the first period of pregnancy is behind you, you know that it’s not a very good idea to contradict with your significant other. From flannel blankets to tummy tubs, from cotton diapers to bottle heaters, its just a small part of the list of things that you’ve never heard of before this.
But eventually the moment is there, it just wears you quite a bit if you think of the day that is in front of you: spend the whole dat strolling throug stall baby stores with women full of all kinds of hormones. I can tell you this: it is not as bad as it initially seems to be, fortunately. After 3 different stores you know all the sales pitches of the sales people, but it’s really mind blowing to see all the different stuff that is available for now it’s just looking for cool things, not specifically buying things as it still not clear if it will be a boy or a girl.
What I forgot to tell you in the meanwhile is that your house is filled up pretty good already with all kinds of different clothing that you get from friend so/family. Lots of bodysuits, shirts, pants, socks, you cannot name it or someone has given it to you already, because their kid(s) do no longer fit in these clothes. Don’t get me wrong, they all mean it in a good way, but it’s an easy way to get rid of excess clothes.
Slowly but surely not only you and mommy 2 be are changing, but now your house is as well.
In the meanwhile mommy 2 be starts getting all kind of (annoying) pregnancy symptoms: she doesn’t feel well, does not like the food she used to like, and on top of that, not all of her clothing fit anymore. To check if all these symtomps are normal, she needs to investigate this thoroughly. This is not a bad thing, but she needs to keep you updated on everything according to her. And then there was the moment that it got really annoying, I told her she now has a “Google-ban”. If she wanted to know if something was normal or abnormal, she must call the midwife instead of reading all kind off horror stories that are posted online. This worked out fine, she became a lot more relaxed about things.
After approx 20 weeks ofpregnancy there is the difficult decision you have to make: the 2nd ultrasound is coming up and you have probably thought about it, with or without the future mom, if you want to know if it will be a boy or a girl. Both deiciopsions have their pros and cons: if you don’t know it it is exciting and a big surprise, but if you know what it will be, it will become a lot easier to design the nursery and buy specific stuff/clothes. In the end we decided we wanted to know what it will be, but first things first: we can make a big deal out of it, but as a daddy 2 be you would really like your kid to be a boy. You wouldn’t even know what to do with a girl… With a boy you can play soccer, wrestle with him, and later on drink beer and go to the club. But a girl… You don’t see yourself having a tea party with her dolls and stuffed animals, or go to ballet class, do you?
Once you are at the ultrasound appointment you get a lot of information about the ultrasound etc. But what is the really exciting thing? It’s not the outcome if it is a boy or a girl, but during this ultrasound it is main,y checked if all the vital organs are growing the way they should and if all the bones and vanes are ok, etc. during this ultrasound there is a long checklist which is executed and at each check you are telling nervous: is everything ok? Fortunately everything went fine and on top of that we were told that we are having a boy! My day and week were perfect! We also received some beautiful pictures of the ultrasound which we proudly showed to everyone who was interested.
Half way through the pregnancy and you only know a very small part of the things that are going to happen in the near future…
Topic next. blog: frustrations, fake contractions and the delivery