A Tip For The Fellas

Now that I know that at least someone is reading this journal and that they are male I decided to let the men in on something. (I am sure more will follow.) When we learn that we are pregnant our lives change as fast as we peed on that stick! I am sure that your baby mama of choice was probably not living the wild lifestyle that I was, but I assure that all of our priorities change in an instant. You know all those spicy tuna rolls, cups of coffee, happy hours (several days a week in my case), and etc. that we love? Gone!

I am sure that you already know that there are a lot of things that we can not eat or drink when pregnant. What you might not really think about is the social implications of that. When you become pregnant your best drinking buddies say they will still be there, but you can't blame them when they would rather go out than sit around with your lame ass. On the other hand, our "mommy friends" are quick to welcome you to the club. (I am sure this is the same with the men.) As great as the mommy friends are though, they are not as likely to want to be awake at 2 am as your drinking buddy friends.

When people with children find out you are going to have a baby, everyone gets excited. Here is the difference though. Men found out that their best friend is going to be a father and it is shots all around! Lets also not forget the kegger diaper parties! This is just not the case for us.

So, this is where the advice comes in. We know that you no longer have all the freedom you used to have. We understand that we have become very moody and needy. We also understand that you miss your friends, going out, playing disk golf, and whatever else it is that you men do. My advice is that you realize that even if you only do it once in a very long while it has been even longer for us. We have spent months salivating over that nice cold beer you drank at dinner. We secretly (or not so secretly) loathe the girls at the bar that can actually fit into our old clothes. We miss being able to go out of town for a few days without consulting our doctor. Hell, as much as we love our ob/gyn we miss only having to go once a year. Not only do we have to think about all the things we are missing out on while we are pregnant we know that this is not going to end after we give birth. You want to complain about work, but we are actually jealous that you get to leave the house!

I hope you remember all this when you feel the need to whine to a pregnant woman about not being able to play soccer. Please also keep in mind that not only can we no longer live our pre-pregnancy lives, but we tend to be very lonely and I did not even get into all the discomfort and fear that comes from being pregnant.

So, in other words...we don't really care that your social life sucks! We have it far worse. Take what you can get and remember odds are that her anger and frustration is probably coming from fear and a great need for companionship.


PS. A word about those spicy tuna rolls. There are two reason why we can't eat them. One being that the fish is not cooked. The other is the high level of mercury in fish. This is NOT something that only pregnant woman need to worry about. With the rise in popularity of sushi more and more people are getting mercury poisoning. Be very careful with the amount of mercury you are taking in and if you have been eating a lot of fish (not just sushi) get your mercury levels checked. It really could be killing you.