Pfeiffer - Dude, youre gonna be a dad! : how to get (both of you) through the next 9 months

Avon, Massachusetts

To Kaitlyn, Lindsay, and Zoey:
Find out what you are passionate about, and chase it with everything youve got. And know that we will always love you more today than we did yesterday.

Pregnancy: the final frontier. It requires a total rewiring of your male thought process, which has been programmed since puberty to remind you to have sex responsibly and not impregnate your partner. So now that youre having sex to try to impregnate your partner, its time to adjust to the idea of your life as a father.

As Dad-to-be, your primary job is to make sure Mom-to-be doesnt see red during this stressful time of emotional and physical upheaval for her, and to do your part to make the pregnancy as successful as possible.

This next stage after conception is all about research, planning, and making decisions. Its the way of nesting BMPs. Whats that? Not familiar with the term? Your BMP is your baby-making partner, that special someone youve chosen to embark on this journey with. And now that you have your partner, the challenge for you is to take an active part while all this gestating is going down. If you let it, the pregnancy game can swallow you up, leaving your BMP and her mother to make every decision. And you may think youre doing the right thing, being supportive and nodding your head in a north-and-south direction to every question thrown your way. But this can soon become a habit and before you know it, Yes, dear, whatever you think, is your default setting. Until one day you wake up and realize you have a son named Percy and your wife is dressing him in a sailor suit. Your boy will already be off to a rough start other babies will be plotting to steal little Percys lunch money. If you let it go that far, its extremely difficult to change things.

So the moral of the story is this: Give input right from the start. You need to carefully consider each decision. You have much to learn, grasshopper. Being informed and involved will make the process more fulfilling and less confusing, and of course it will help prevent the woman in your life from having to do all of the work. If creating a child takes two people, raising a child takes at least that many.

You need to stay on top of the ball and not get caught with your pants down a position thats perfectly acceptable during the impregnation phase, but not so much when youre asked your opinion on critical issues like the color of the babys room, or if and when Mommy is going back to work after baby arrives. You need to score a name for your child that you like but that still pleases Mom and all the grandparents. Theres a lot being thrown at you and your BMP.

There are approximately 3,712 ways for a man to look stupid during the pregnancy, and Im here to help you avoid (most of) them. Time is of the essence, and you need to prepare.

This urgency is caused by the fact that shes arming herself, as you read this, with knowledge about pregnancy and everything it entails. She is nose deep in books you would never spend two seconds reading. She will be filled with facts and figures, while youll still be trying to figure out how Malcolm Gladwell gets his hair to look like that, and whether you could get away with that look.

If you dont step up to the plate, it will quickly become apparent that you know nothing, and after rolling her eyes and exchanging knowing looks with her girlfriends, your partner will start making decisions for you. This will quickly lead to a pattern in which shell think that either youre stupid and incompetent or you just dont care about your child.

So although no man gets excited about getting a Brest Friend (its not what you think) or about choosing the color of the car seat cover, your BMP is excited about these things, and thats what you need to care about.

So man up, get some knowledge of your own, and the entire process will go more smoothly for everyone. Arming yourself with this book was a step in the right direction. Now you have to finish reading it. If you do, youll be happy because youll know whats going on and what mistakes to avoid, and shell be happy because her man cares so much about her and your soon-to-be-delivered boss.

Read, reflect, and evolve. Its not just about you anymore. Its time for you to turn into the leader of your pack. Its time for you to try on a new title: Daddy.

It is much easier to become a father than to be one.

Kent Nerburn

To be any good at it, youll have to grow and evolve, to change in ways that may not always be comfortable for you. As you experience these growing pains, youll gain knowledge and the parent experience will get a little easier. As the great Jim Valvano once said: Dont give up. Dont ever give up.

The first trimester is a good time for both of you to mentally prepare yourselves and begin adjusting to your new lives as parents. Your BMP will feel changes in her body as pregnancy hormones begin to take effect. Her uterus will grow during this time, up to the size of a grapefruit, in preparation for the babys growth. This little human comes complete with the DNA blueprint to form all of his or her body parts, from the halo atop her head all the way down to her toes. This baby will grow faster than your student loans: between day one and the ninth week of growth, the little fertilized embryo will grow to about an inch long. While every woman and every pregnancy is different, your BMP may begin to experience symptoms, including heartburn, headaches, mood swings, and morning sickness.

Dad, you will feel pretty good. Exactly the same, in fact. This is the first opportunity for you to begin to demonstrate that you are an engaged, motivated father. The best ways to do this will be to get informed, be supportive, and most of all, be patient. Oh, and if she gets a severe case of morning sickness, hold her hair while she gets sick.

When the pregnancy test stick turns blue, the light to fatherhood goes green. Its something youve dreamed about most of your life. You and your buddies stayed up late, wearing your flowery pajamas, having tickle fights, and talking endlessly about your dreams of parenthood.

Or maybe not.

In any case, the time to prove yourself as a superior ber-parent is fast approaching. If this book is in your hand, youre either an expectant father, or intentionally headed in that direction. You and your BMP are pushing the bobsled down the track and readying yourselves to hop in for a fast-and-furious ride that will be filled with thrills, chills, and of course, many, many spills.