Dads these days play an active role in their wives' pregnancy; they no longer just pace up and down nervously outside the delivery room waiting on news of the baby and then give out cigars afterwards.
For one thing, smoking is now banned in all hospitals and most fathers actually want to be there when the baby is born.
So if you're a soon-to-be dad, what are the things that you should expect and how should you prepare for them? Before the Birth The one thing that you should always have on the ready when your wife is in the last trimester (7th to 9th month for all of you laymen out there) of the pregnancy is a "baby bug-out bag".
This is typically a gym bag that contains everything you will need if ever you need to take your wife to the emergency room in the middle of the night.
The usual contents of your typical baby bug-out bag are: - A clean change of clothes, - Some basic toiletries, -Magazines or a book to read while waiting -Some snacks if you're not fond of hospital cafeteria food and, the most important one of all, -A digital still camera for capturing the magical moment when it happens (you probably don't want to video the actual birthing process, believe me).
While you are at the hospital, your wife will be in a lot of pain; so it's all up to you to make sure that everything is under control.
You should talk with the attending doctors and nurses on what you should do when your wife feels that it's time to push and where can you find the nurses in case of emergencies.
During the Birth It is quite common now for the husband to be present in the delivery room while the wife is giving birth.
You need to be there to give your wife all the moral support that she needs, so hold her hand and tell her that everything is going to be just fine and leave the breathing instructions to the doctors and nurses.
Besides moral support, you may have other duties while your wife is giving birth.
The doctor may want to get your assistance in holding your wife's legs apart, or you may even be given the chance to cut the umbilical cord from the baby.
After the Birth There are still a lot of things that need to be done after your baby is born, like breastfeeding.
It is important that the baby gets breastfed within the first hour of the birth, so you may want to get all your male buddies out of the room and save their congratulations for a bit later.
You may even get the chance to give the baby its first bath in the hospital nursery.
These are small, yet important, things that you should never let pass; because you will not get the opportunity to do them ever again.