A shout out to my baby daddy

There have been two things that have gotten me through this pregnancy- well, certainly more than two, but for the purposes of this blog post, I will mention two of the many factors that have gotten me through my pregnancy.

The first is what my real (and only) husband and I lovingly refer to as my “second husband.” This second husband is none other than a bright fuscia body pillow that has made it possible for me to sleep for the past 15 weeks. My real husband who is a sleepy time cuddler is jealous of my second husband because I myself am not a cuddler, yet he watches in envy every night as I break off our late night cuddling to rollover and spend quality time with my second husband for the remainder of the night’s sleep. Needless to say it has caused some jealousy and angst in our household; however I don’t think that it’s a completely hate/hate relationship between real and second husband- I have seen them cuddling a few times too, which real hubby would adamantly deny.

But props go out to my REAL husband for being husband of the year, best supporting actor and Most likely to succeed as a Daddy. It has been a long and winding road to get to this place in life. There were days when I truly never thought having a baby was in the plan for us. BUT God has a way of making new creations; whether literally as in a baby or figuratively as in grown ups. Both of us have had to undergo huge transformations as adults that have brought us where we are today. Not that either one of us is perfect or even close to it, but we are more of a WE now then we ever were before. There are days when I am not so sure how I will be at this whole “mom” thing, but I feel like I have a teammate by my side that will make the endeavor far more chewable.

So here are some things that I would like to give a shout out to my baby daddy for. There are a million more reasons why he’s amazing, but here are the ones to note:
• He has gone to all of my birthing classes with me- and even one without me- so that he can be the best birthing coach in the history of the world.
• He has painted my toenails for the past 2 months- and not just when I ask him to- he volunteers when he sees the chips.
• He went through “Chili dog craving month” with me and let me eat Chili dogs whenever I wanted to (I don’t know how much of a hardship this was for him, but none the less, it earns him a shout out)
• He painted our baby room, assembled all of our baby furniture and bedroom furniture- all without one inkling of help from me and did it while I was at work so that I would be surprised when I got home.
• He coached me through the Walmart parking lot hyperventilation when I thought my car was stolen- and then didn't get mad at me when I told him my car was just 3 aisles over. Instead he laughed and said I was cute.

But I think what make me the most grateful to him is the encouragement that he has given me throughout this whole experience. He has believed in me when I haven’t believed in myself- which might be the reason I am so drawn to the natural birthing experience because it looks at giving birth as a team effort, not just the dad sitting in the corner watching the mom bring a miracle into the world. That’s how he has approached the whole pregnancy. One night in birthing class when I was cracking up during a “relaxation practice” and he was taking everything seriously and encouraging me to focus- it hit me that that’s what we had become- a team. The fact that we have become a team has been far more related to his endurance with me than my ability to be a team for him- cause let's face it- I'm pretty much a spaz. But I'm grateul for a husband that loves me and loves our family more than I ever thought he would. I know there are late nights and big decisions and life changes and all around scarinesses ahead, but I am glad I have mon ami by my side as the two of us become the three of us.