Current status: partner is 8 weeks a few days with our first ultrasound in a few day

We all know a lot can happen from when our partners first find out theyre pregnant

The symptoms start emerging of physical body sensitivity and other things our partners experience. Both of us get excited

As a prospective dad, and partner, how do you help your partner manage her emotions and thoughts when the symptoms might be going away or if she thinks shes losing the baby?

I legit feel helpless and try to just listen and let her work through what shes going through and just be an ear to support. As an fyi, we had a chemical pregnancy a few months ago

What confuses me is seeing so many stories from moms-to-be who are in relationships that are emotionally draining or even abusive, yet they still struggle to leave because of the relationship, while I’m in a situation where my girlfriend and I haven’t experienced anything like that.

We’ve definitely had arguments, and there have been moments where we questioned whether we should stay together, but lately things have actually been good. I care about her, I want to be there for her and our daughter, and I’m trying to do my part.
But despite things being better, I still can’t shake this feeling deep down that she sees me more as her “baby daddy” than her boyfriend.

I also wonder if part of this insecurity comes from the fact that we aren’t married and don’t have the same commitment to each other that a married couple would have. We got pregnant relatively early in our relationship, before we really had the chance to build that foundation together. So sometimes I wonder whether she sees a future with me as her partner, or whether the pregnancy simply made us parents before we really became a committed couple.

I’m not saying she doesn’t care about me, and I know pregnancy can completely change the dynamic of a relationship. I just don’t want us to become two people who co-parent our daughter while the romantic relationship slowly disappears.
I want to be her partner, not just her baby’s father. I want us to eventually build a family together because we genuinely choose each other—not simply because we have a child together.

Has anyone else experienced an unexpected pregnancy relatively early in a relationship, especially while unmarried? Did you ever feel like you became “baby mom/baby dad” before you really got to become boyfriend/girlfriend? Did that feeling eventually go away as the relationship developed, or was it a sign that something deeper was missing?

We’re expecting due january and honestly i don’t know how to feel like im honestly scared shitless. I’m great with kids i’ve been with my girlfriend for a year now and i’ve stepped up and helped raise her now about to be three year old son and i’m the only father figure he’s ever known i’ve grown so attached to him and he’s literally my mini me but now that im expecting one of my own all i do is doubt myself. We’re staying with her dad because it’s been way harder than i thought to get our own place and that just feeds my feelings that i wasn’t ready to be a leader of anyone but myself. life was easy when i only had to worry about myself but now i gotta take care of everyone and i feel like im letting everyone down. Then i feel guilty for missing my old life i feel like the days of enjoying my life are over and the hard part hasn’t even started. i know it sounds selfish but i miss having hobbies, traveling and being a happy person now im just a depressed shell of myself. it makes me feel bad because my gf is just happy to have a kid with me she doesn’t care what i have or don’t have. it’s like she only sees the good side and i only see the bad. sometimes i think it’s because she already had a kid when we met so her being able to have hobbies and things like that went out the window not to sound like a asshole but now it’s my turn to give up my old life and dreams and just be a parent and it kills me to think about. i love my girl to death but i feel like she always wanted this life and i still had things i wanted to accomplish and experience that will have to go on the back burner for at least 20 years and by then ill be old and life will have passed me by. these are just some of my thoughts but at the end of the day ill be here with my family cuz they need me and i need them but i just feel numb when it comes to enjoying anything anymore…

After 6 tough years, 30+ hours of labour, epidural failure, an emergency C section, the wife and I can finally say we’ve joined the parent club! A feeling like no other. We’ve got a few more days in the hospital due to mum and daughter catching an infection but all is going well, then it really begins. Anyone who’s still waiting, keep trying and have hope. We didn’t think we’d get to this stage and the labour wasn’t exactly how we planned and hoped too but finally seeing our wonderful daughter makes up for everything. Words cannot describe what women go through and big props to all the midwives, doctors and nurses etc. who supported us so much. A long and patient journey begins but we can’t wait for every milestone.

Found out at 6 weeks, had our first appt and ultrasound last week 10/8. Next one is this week already! Can’t believe how fast and slow it’s happening. Can’t believe there’s actually a baby in there!
Wife and I are soo happy we’ve both wanted this for forever.

Little man came early! 36+4. October 12 (Canadian Thanksgiving).
Everybody is doing great and mama was a rockstar!

I can‘t describe my excitement. After 2 miscarriages, we are in week 24 and had an ultrasound recently. Baby looks perfectly healthy, all organs grow as they should and I am beyond thrilled. Everything seems perfect. Due date is in Febuary and we already agreed on names for both genders.

Still anxious that something goes wrong but I bet that‘s normal after our hopes were shattered two times in a row. I know chances are small now, but still… do you know what I mean?

I think I will cry my eyes out when our baby is born. I cannot wait for our little miracle to come out of my wife‘s tummy! Lol.

Just needed to get that off my chest. I know I will love that baby more than words can describe!!!

Hi everyone. This is actually my first ever dad post. My wife is about 5 months pregnant after we struggled with infertility for a few years so we are both over the moon with excitement for our little one to get here in March.

However I am already dealing with some pretty significant anxiety about the current climate in the United States when it comes to school shootings (and many, many other things but that's for another day).

It is driving me crazy that this just seems to be so accepted and normalized. I am a huge proponent of public education and we plan to use our local district. Homeschooling is not an option - I have personally experienced the harms that can do.

So my question to you all - how do you deal with this? I'm assuming my anxiety about this is only going to get worse as our little one is actually here and they approach school age.

When expecting my first, I didn't really know what to do in the labour room. I printed a bunch of notes but never really had a chance to look at them. Before our second I wanted something I could just open in the moment and follow, so I built it.

Steady is a free Android app for birth partners. It has:

26 labour positions (17 on land and 9 in water) showing where your hands go

audio-guided breathing you can do together

a contraction timer that alerts you at 5-1-1

60+ birth preferences you can tick through and export

a guide covering what to say, what to do, and how to speak up for her when it matters

It works fully offline, with no account and nothing sent anywhere, and it comes in several languages. There's one small banner ad, and $2 removes it.

It's not medical advice, just the stuff midwives and educators tell you, laid out so it's easy to use when your head's spinning.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jarogge.steady

I'd genuinely love feedback from anyone here, especially on what's missing.

We're getting the nursery ready for our first baby, and I'm at the point where every baby product seems to have ten different features. One thing I do want is a monitor that shows the room temperature since our house can get pretty warm at night, even with the AC running.

I'd prefer to see it in the same app as the camera instead of having another device to keep track of. Dads, which monitors have you used, and is the temperature reading accurate compared with a regular room thermometer? Hopefully this helps me narrow things down before we make a purchase.

we're getting ready for our first baby, and one feature i keep coming back to is breathing tracking. nanit's breathing band caught my attention because the camera reads the pattern on the fabric to track breathing motion, rather than having an electronic sensor attached to the baby. i can see why that would appeal to new parents, but i'm still unsure how reliable it feels during a normal night, especially if the camera loses sight of the pattern.

for parents using nanit's breathing band, how often do you run into alerts that turn out to be a reading issue? i'm trying to get a realistic idea of how it works in everyday use, because that's the feature we'd be paying extra for.

So my girlfriend (22F) is about 4-5 weeks pregnant right now and the hormones and morning sickness is killing her. She has had some really tough days so far and I need some advice on how I can help. It's been really tough for her mentally and physically the last few days and I want to be able to help but I don't know how. I know to be there for her and try to understand her but I don't know what I can do specifically. I love her and I know she needs some help but I don't know what I can do the best. I would also love some advice just generally helping her that I can relay to her that may be of use to her. I would love to make her life as easy as possible throughout this and some advice and encouragement would be super useful.

This is a question for the graduates on this sub - could you tell when your partner was going to have the baby or was it a complete surprise when she went into labour?

I feel like I'll know when she's a day or two away but this is our first so ive never done this before, but I feel like I'll get a feeling

Hello,

My wife and I are expecting our first baby and we just found out it’s going to be a boy! We however have been having a hard time coming up with names. She was a teacher for 10 years and we both have difficult relationships with our families so names are hard. Also a lot of the online lists repeat the names or have the same names. Anyone else struggle with this?

we've been starting to research baby monitors before the baby arrives, and i'm realizing there are way more options than i expected. aside from having a reliable video feed, i'm curious about sleep tracking and whether those extra insights are actually useful for new parents or just another thing to check.

i came across Nanit while looking into smart monitors and noticed it offers sleep tracking features. i've also seen Miku mentioned in discussions, so i'm trying to understand how the options compare rather than just going by marketing. for those who've already done their research or have experience with these, what features would you prioritize, and is sleep tracking something you'd actually use regularly?

Hi all, going to be a dad in February and we were wondering - where do you find baby beds for the crib? We went to Target and other big box stores but can't seem to find any that aren't Amazon. Any tips? TIA!

EDIT: Mattress for the crib, not mattress pad

If this isn’t the place to post this please let me know. To clarify, it’s not that we never wanted kids but that we weren’t planning on it, but agreed that if it happened it happened. We found out a couple of days ago that she’s about 6 weeks pregnant. We’ve been together for almost 6 years and are in a healthy relationship with each other. We also just moved 1100 miles away from home and family because I got a promotion at work and we haven’t told any family yet about the pregnancy. We are both going to be first-time parents and I’m not sure where we’re supposed to go from here. It’s all incredibly new to the both of us and we don’t have any type of solid community to rely on in our new home. We don’t want to move back because both of us don’t really have supporting families, her family, particularly her sister, always tries to insert themselves in our business and my family has disowned me for leaving the religion I was raised as. We don’t want to raise a child though in the place we moved too because we weren’t intending on staying. We wanted to move around a couple more times to different states until we found a spot we wanted to settle down but now we feel rushed in that process. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated, we are both very scared.

My wife makes more money than I do, and yet child care to state the obvious is too expensive. After our leave runs out, we've discussed what we should do in regards to child care, and it appears me staying home would be the best option. I don't have any qualms about being a stay at home dad, I just want to do it right. It will be a commitment that I'll have for years. I know that it'll be rewarding, but I can't say it doesn't scare me. I value being able to make it to the gym, being able to see friends maybe once every two weeks or so, and I enjoy being valued in the workplace, and with the latter, I know that my work will obviously be valued by my wife and child but that it becomes largely invisible and that, in our market, being removed from the labor force (the dreaded "work gap" on the resume) is seen as a character defect or sign of potential weakness. I want to be able to care for my child the best, keep the house the cleanest I can. Any pointers from dads who became a stay at home parent after your newborn entered the world?

My husband and I are officially trying! My husband has little to no experience around pregnant women and limited experience with babies. We are both very excited and i want to help him prepare as best as I can so that I do not go through this feeling like a single mom teaching him but also to empower him to be the best father to our kids and role model it for them!

Was there a moment in time it all clicked for you and you began taking things more serious? And howd you go about you taking things more serious? How did you best prepare for fatherhood and having a pregnant partner? Any particular classes? Unfortunately no daddy boot camps in our area... birthing classes? or things you learned or books or anything that helped with that? Any helpful tips?

As of january next year, we're going to start trying. I bought a house. I have a good paying job. Things are finally at a point where I am comfortable caring for my child. I am extremely excited to meet them. Wife is currently weaning off her medications and will be going on prenatal vitamins in december.

It's sort of silly to announce that we're trying, I know, but for me, it's enormous. This is something I have been preparing for since I was 19. If all goes according to plan, I'll be a dad roughly around september next year! How cool is that!?

Edit: yes, I know September is unrealistic. That's mostly the excitement talking.

Thank you all❤️