Jennifer Ash Rudick - The Expectant Father

PRAISE FOR THE EXPECTANT FATHER

For fathers soon expecting the ultimate gifta new member of the family The Expectant Father is their best friend.

CNN.com

This constantly updated classic reveals the myriad ways an impending pregnancy influences dad: emotional and physical effects, societal expectations, financial implications, the impact on your social and sex lives, and whether youre really ready.

Fatherly

This is probably the best book geared exclusively towards expectant fathers. No lame jokes. Just straight up useful information. The Expectant Father covers the pregnancy process and how dads can help in it, as well as provides tons of useful info for dads on raising a kid. They also cover why dads are so important in the development of a child and how children influence fathers.

The Art of Manliness

From fertility issues to epidurals, this modern classic covers it all in an easily digestible but authoritative tone. Brott and Ash have produced a no-nonsense, month-by-month guide to becoming a parent by offering a comprehensive view of physical, emotional, financial, and medical matters faced by fathers-to-be.

Brit+Co

Brott and Ashs measured, experienced tone offers assurance and guidance for those new to the stresses and worries of impending fatherhood, making this a must-have for anyone expecting.

Publishers Weekly

Once the sperm has done the deed, men often get neglected in the birth process. But becoming a parent is as life-altering for men as it is for women, and dads deserve to know what to expect. When my friend told me she was pregnant, the first thing I did was buy The Expectant Father for her hubby. And when I diagnose a pregnancy in one of my patients, I put this book on the must-read list.

Lissa Rankin, M.D. OB/GYN, New York Times best-selling author

Dont get pregnant without it! A first-rate guide for all dads-to-be.

Vicki Lansky, author of Feed Me, Im Yours

Finally. A pregnancy book for fathers, and a very good one. It not only recognizes the deep emotions of expectant fathers, but it guides them through their emotional roller coaster with wisdom and understanding.

Marguerite Kelly, author of The Mothers Almanac

The book does a great job in covering what most other books dont: the fathers perspective during pregnancy, and the questions that might pop up there. Throughout the pages, the author inserts some levity with cartoons that sum up the situation.

Fathercraft

Extraordinarily helpful packed with specific advice.

The Oregonian

Stood out immediately because of its perceptive insights.

San Francisco Chronicle

One would be hard put to find a question about having a baby thats not dealt with here, all from the fathers perspective.

Library Journal

ABOUT THE EXPECTANT FATHER: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE FOR DADS-TO-BE, FIFTH EDITION

The Expectant Father is the best-selling pregnancy guide for men, trusted by millions of dads-to-be.

This reassuring month-by-month overview gives you the tools you need to support your partner and prepare for the joys and challenges of fatherhood. It concludes with two special sections: one on labor and delivery, and the other covering the first few months after your babys arrival.

The fifth edition of The Expectant Father is updated from cover to cover with the latest information about fertility, prenatal care, and delivery; work-life balance (including the lessons learned from COVID-19); financial planning; and much more. It incorporates the expertise of leading OB-GYNs and researchers, and the real-life experiences of hundreds of dads and moms.

Illustrated throughout with stress-relieving cartoons, The Expectant Father is a friendly, readable, and inclusive companion for all dads-to-be.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Armin A. Brott is a nationally recognized parenting expert and the author of ten critically acclaimed books for fathers, including The New Father: A Dads Guide to the First Year and The New Father: A Dads Guide to the Toddler Years, 1236 Months . He also writes a syndicated newspaper column, Ask Mr. Dad, and hosts a weekly radio show, Positive Parenting . To learn more, visit his website, mrdad.com .

Jennifer Ash Rudick is the author of several books on interior design, the design editor at large for Galerie magazine, and a producer of documentary films, including the award-winning Iris (with Maysles Films) and Scandalous .

OTHER E-BOOKS IN THE NEW FATHER SERIES

The New Father

A Dads Guide to the First Year

THIRD EDITION

The New Father

A Dads Guide to the Toddler Years

THIRD EDITION

Also available in hardcover, paperback, and audiobook formats

For Tirzah, Talya, and Zoe, who made me a better dad. And for Shaundra, who makes me a better man. A.B.

In memory of my father, Clarke Ash, and for Joe, Clarke, Emmy, and my mother, Agnes, with love and affection. J.A.R.

Contents

Salad Days

The Doctor Will See You Now

Spreading the Word

Money, Money, Money

The Lights Are On and Somebody Is Home

Work and Family

Entering the Home Stretch

Making a List and Checking It Twice

Dear, Its Time

Introduction

When my wife got pregnant with our first child, I was the happiest Id ever been. That pregnancy, labor, and the babys birth was a time of incredible closeness, tenderness, and passion. Long before wed married, my wife and I had made a commitment to participate equally in raising our children. And it seemed only natural that the process of shared parenting should begin during pregnancy.

Since neither of us had had children before, we were both rather ill prepared for pregnancy. Fortunately for my wife, there were literally hundreds of books and other resources designed to educate, encourage, support, and comfort women during their pregnancies. But when it finally hit me that I, too, was expecting (although in a very different kind of way), and that the pregnancy was bringing out feelings and emotions I didnt understand, there simply werent any resources for me to turn to. I looked for answers in my wifes pregnancy books, but information about what expectant fathers go through (if it was discussed at all) was at best superficial, consisting mostly of advice on how men could be supportive of their pregnant wives, or, even less helpfully, why men might have affairs during their wifes pregnancy. To make things worse, my wife and I were the first couple in our circle of close friends to get pregnant, which meant that there was no one else I could talk to about what I was going through, no one who could reassure me that what I was feeling was normal and all right.

Until relatively recently, there has been precious little research on expectant fathers emotional and psychological experiences during pregnancy. The very title of one of the first articles to appear on the subject should give you some idea of the medical and psychiatric communities attitude toward the impact of pregnancy on men. Written by William H. Wainwright, M.D., and published in the July 1966 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry , it was called Fatherhood as a Precipitant of Mental Illness. (Another wonderful article that came out at about the same time was: Psychoses in Males in Relation to Their Wives Pregnancy and Childbirth.)