My husband is taking over my blog today to talk about what the pregnancy process has been like for him. I’m so excited to share his thoughts with y’all! Thank you for writing this for me, babe! 🙂
So, Logan asked me if I would write a little something about what our pregnancy journey has been like from a guy’s point of view. So I am going to do my best to give you an honest, male perspective without embarrassing my wife and making women everywhere run at me with torches and pitchforks.
After going through this process for nearly eight months now, I can say that pregnancy is good preparation for being a parent. I know, you are shaking your head saying, “what could a man possibly learn from ME going through all this? He hasn’t had to do anything!” Well, let me tell you. Over the last eight months I have learned what it is like to feel absolutely helpless.
I will never understand what it is like to be a pregnant woman. And because of that, I will never understand what it feels like to be craving one thing and then ten minutes later be craving something completely different. But I do know what it feels like to be the one trying to fulfill that craving. I will never forget the first time I had to go to three different places to get one meal (sandwich from one place, fries from another place, and a Frosty from Wendy’s). Nor will I understand what it feels like to become overly emotional over the slightest thing. But I do know what it feels like to try and console this overly emotional pregnant woman. I could go on and on with examples of a how a husband can feel completely helpless in these types of situations.
But in the end, I think all this is just a primer for what most guys go through as parents. Most guys are wired to try and solve problems. We may not always be able to (some wives would probably say we rarely actually do), but we are at least going to give it a shot. That is why this feeling of helplessness during pregnancy can prepare us for the ultimate feeling of helplessness – a crying baby.
In my somewhat limited experience with kids (nephews, random children on the street, etc), the thing that drives me crazy more than anything else is not having any idea what to do to make them stop crying. Not because I am mad they are crying – I know that is their only way to communicate – but because all I want is to know what to do to make them happy. I remember baby sitting for a relative one time. It must have been a bad night for the poor baby because he did not stop crying the entire time. We fed him, changed his diaper, rocked him, walked around with him; none of it worked! It leaves you wanting to pull your hair out. Again, not because I am mad at the baby, but because all I wanted to do was satisfy whatever need he may have.
So, all of this is to say the lesson I have learned the most through Logan’s pregnancy is that I am not always going to be able to fix the situation. I am not always going to have the answer. And instead of allowing that to frustrate me, I need to embrace it. Because in the end, it’s not always about having the answer to every problem. It’s about making the most of every moment you have with them, regardless of the problem.
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