There has long been the opinion of men naturally being scared and or wanting to run away once a woman has told them they are expecting. Personally I am not sure where this has come from and I can only guess it's from the soaps and the trashy magazines. In my experience I was over the moon and from speaking to my followers on Twitter so were they.
It was amazing to find out the circumstances and experiences of other fathers the other day on Twitter. I was left feeling proud after hearing that many of the dads I chatted with actually had been fighting for a pregnancy or had planned theirs. Here are their replies:
6 years infertile; 2nd IVF attempt. Doctor scans and on the ultrasound screen were two dots. Hugging & crying ensued. @TheYorkshireDad
— ADDad (@Distracted_Dad) July 4, 2014
@TheYorkshireDad 1AM. Neither of us could sleep. She said she "was late'. I spent the next 2 hrs looking for a 24 hr drug store for a test.
— Adam Black (@StayAtHomePunk) July 4, 2014
@TheYorkshireDad - I wasn't told. I told her. We took the test together and I was the one who looked.
— Dad Creek (@costyy2k) July 3, 2014
@TheYorkshireDad >After 4 miscarriages it was a cross between FANTASTIC and DREAD - but then our first was born :)
— AFCB Rob (@rdw4591) July 3, 2014
@TheYorkshireDad after trying unsuccessfully for 9 years it was actually me who told the Mrs. She couldn't see the faint blue 2nd line...
— daddydaycare (@Chafster) July 3, 2014
@Mrsnige @TheYorkshireDad gobsmacked and nervous, had previously been told i couldnt have kids. Very very excited too.....
— FatBurke (@FatBlerk) July 3, 2014
@TheYorkshireDad We waited for "the line" to appear whilst in the bathroom together. We'd already ruined 1 test by weeing on the wrong end!
— The DADventurer (@The_dadventurer) July 3, 2014
@TheYorkshireDad I was sent out to tesco to get two pregnancy tests to make doubly certain! Then we managed to wait about 10 minutes 1/2
— jimrobbins (@jimrobbins) July 3, 2014
@TheYorkshireDad It was the 2012 Olympics. My wife did the test and I *may* have performed the Usain Bolt pose when she told me the result.
— Jonny Dockett (@JonnyDockett) July 4, 2014
As you can see many of these fine gentlemen all had unique experiences. Now I suppose I better tell my story as i am the 10th dad.... Well in a nutshell my partner has PCOS, so we never thought that she could conceive without help. It seems that Mother Nature had other ideas as after a week or two of feeling unwell my partner decided to take a pregnancy test when I was on a night out on the town with the "lads". She wasn't expecting a positive result but wanted to check anyway, she did and she was pregnant.
She then proceeded to call my mobile and after several attempt s my drunken self-answered, unable to hold back my partner came straight out with it... I am pregnant. My reply.... Are you sure? - the classic line I assume is generally the first words slipping out of many a man's mouths when they are told this. After a few minutes of talking I was ecstatic, we both were and I rushed home as fast as my legs could take me to go and celebrate the great news.
I was scared, we both were, people are not trained well to deal with the pressure in the first few months of pregnancy. We had no idea what was around the corner, no idea what we had to do at all and instead of turning to our nearest and dearest I guess we did what many do these days and jump onto a search engine.
Google was great and first time parents can find a wide range of resources to help them get through their pregnancy. We found that many resources had different opinions and were often vague. I turned to Twitter to ask some of the important questions like when is the first scan, when should I feel the baby kick and how can we work out the due date. Twitter was a fantastic network for us, I was able to speak directly to honest parents about their experiences of becoming a parent for the first time.
It is hard to keep a pregnancy a secret when you have to run off to appointments and your partner can't drink at social events. As soon as you get that first scan over and done you should find that the path to parenthood is laid out in front of you.
What was your experience?