Need advice, first time Dad!

2:53

Get some sleep.

CH27

make_me_wise wrote: »

Congratulations. Hope your girlfriends pregnancy goes really smoothly. I am due to have twins next week and my husband has read a couple of the books mentioned on here and found them useful.

I would recommend just lots of open communication with your girlfriend though. Going along to midwife appointments and being a full part in it all. No book can tell you how your girlfriend is feeling or what she needs emotionally and otherwise.

We have bought cots, travel system, bouncy chairs, steriliser. I hope not to bottle feed but who knows how it will go. It is always useful to have bottles and sterilizers so others can take over night feeds etc. The mattresses on the cots have a cover that can be unzipped and thrown in the washing machine.

We have large families on both sides and have been given dozens of sleepsuits and babygrows. Wont be using baby baths. My mil advised to just fill our bath with a small amount of water and lay baby on their back and splash water over them with a sponge. Dont believe in buying every baby gadget and gizmo under the sun. Just going to use some common sense and wing it!

That seems to have to come round so quickly.
Hope everything goes well for you all xx

Stapler_2

meritaten wrote: »

the advice I would give is
be prepared for sudden mood swings
move heaven and earth to satisfy your partners cravings (she will remember this with gratitude - I craved strawberries and my OH taking me to a pick your own farm is remembered with fondness)
develop an intense interest in nursery design and be prepared to change it overnight!
dont ask 'is it coming' every time your partner winces and rubs her back! it gets sort of irritating when there is weeks to go!
Dont wear rings to the birth - your fingers are going to get crushed! and dont remember that she swears like a trooper and promises to cut off your assets if you ever come near her again!
be prepared to be your partners spokesperson - If partner wants a particular kind of birth and the hospital are not co-operative - then do battle for her!
and finally - YOUR baby is the most beautiful one you have ever seen! and she looks beautiful too!

She hasn't really had a craving for a particular food, just when she wants a certain food she really wants it rather than just one or two.
As a jokey present for christmas I got a hand/wrist muscle exerciser thing :rotfl:

Stapler_2

make_me_wise wrote: »

Congratulations. Hope your girlfriends pregnancy goes really smoothly. I am due to have twins next week and my husband has read a couple of the books mentioned on here and found them useful.

I would recommend just lots of open communication with your girlfriend though. Going along to midwife appointments and being a full part in it all. No book can tell you how your girlfriend is feeling or what she needs emotionally and otherwise.

We have bought cots, travel system, bouncy chairs, steriliser. I hope not to bottle feed but who knows how it will go. It is always useful to have bottles and sterilizers so others can take over night feeds etc. The mattresses on the cots have a cover that can be unzipped and thrown in the washing machine.

We have large families on both sides and have been given dozens of sleepsuits and babygrows. Wont be using baby baths. My mil advised to just fill our bath with a small amount of water and lay baby on their back and splash water over them with a sponge. Dont believe in buying every baby gadget and gizmo under the sun. Just going to use some common sense and wing it!

Congratulations on the twins :j
I've been to the scan and will go to the next appointment my work have been very helpful

On the gadget front, I do have a very large soft spot. I really wanted the baby moniter with the screen so you can see the baby but the better half and pointed out a baby moniter is more than sufficient.

Stapler_2

Mupette wrote: »

You will both be doing a birth plan, don't expect it to go as you expect.

ex husband thought he was doing me great favours by putting a cool flannel on my forehead, .... i growled at him...

Thanks for the advice, I have been given a couple of things that I can't say or do, most of which I shouldn't do anyway. (Football and iPad related mostly )

Stapler_2

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

You may find your OH suddenly develops what you think are strange ideas or superstitions.


As per me, who refused point blank to have anything baby related in the house right up until the last minute (well, the day before, anyhow). And, amazingly enough, my mother allowed me to use my old bedroom as a storage unit both times, when I fully expected her to tell me the same as the rest of OH's family that I was being daft. Nobody else liked me not wanting to know the sex either.

And, connected to Muppette's comment, foot massages can be incredibly painful if feet are swollen. Thigh muscles work more in labour than my flaming feet ever did.

She's already got me practising on the massages :A

Stapler_2

2:53 wrote: »

Get some sleep.

I have been told to try and get my hours in now because 'apparently' I wont get much when the baby is born.

Shovel_Lad

Before you agree to be there at the birth make sure it is a large room.









With a bar at one end. :rotfl:

pinkclouds

2:53 wrote: »

Get some sleep.

^This is the best advice.

The next best advice is, er, to enjoy your "couple time" now because after the baby arrives, you may not get any attention for a very long time. This is apparently a shock to most blokes... And by "very long", I mean from 1 month to 1 year. After that, it depends mostly on whatever time you can sneak whenever your child doesn't require your attention and at least one of you is still awake. However, to reassure you, many couples manage to acquire multiple offspring so it does work out - eventually.

jakes-mum

Congratulations

I think the best bit of advice my husband could have been given when I fell pregnant the first time was to realise that he would now no longer be the centre of my world. It was a huge reality shock to him that this other person took presedence over him in every way, but also he needed to be told that I still loved him dearly He did feel very neglected when our DS was a baby as he was used to my undivided attention, I will go so far as to say he was jealous of his own son

If your going for disposable nappies, stock up on various sizes, less of the newborn than other sizes as you really dont know how big your child will be till it gets here (mine was 9lb 2oz after being told he would be 6lb max :eek:)

Agree totally with dont buy all the gadgets, we bought the video baby monitor thing for DD and didnt even put the camera on the wall :rotfl: DD made bloomin sure we could hear her if she wanted attention :rotfl:

Tell your partner you love her often and try not to let it get to you when shes being a right irrational so and so, it is her hormones, she is going to feel fabulous then like a great big frump. Just let her rant as it really wont be personal, if my DH had took to heart everything I said when heavily pregnant we wouldnt be together

If she suffers with her back or finds it uncomfortable to sleep when she gets bigger, I found a V shaped pillow a god send, so worth keeping in mind if she starts saying later that shes uncomfortable as one half goes under the bump and the other half bewteen your legs . . ok you wont get a cuddle but she'll be soooo comfy its unreal.

Finally, Its not the right thing for all but was good for me, when DS was born I had all the obligatory baby books telling me what he should be doing and DH took them and threw them all in the bin :eek: mainly because I was going 'but he should be holding a spoon now and he isnt!' so he was very much 'how the heck do they know what my son should be doing, hes a person not a fri gging statistic' and in the bin they all went I was scared when he did it but looking back it was the right thing to do for me.