Dear Partners:
Partners of pregnant women come in all shapes, sizes and support styles. Some are eager to read all the books, attend all the classes, shop for all the gear and even help to plan the gender-reveal.
And others…? Not so much. This can be disconcerting to women, and a cause of unwelcome prenatal conflict.
But what’s really going on? Are these partners willfully ignoring the fact that an actual real-live human is on the way? More often than not, the answer is no.
Women who are biologically expecting a child experience a wide variety of changes in their bodies throughout pregnancy. If a woman is adopting or having a baby via surrogacy, she is often the one handling logistics and planning. Partners, on the other hand, don’t necessarily have to consider all of these factors every minute of every day of each and every trimester. In fact, they might hyper-focus on work in order to financially prepare for their growing family. Or, they might feel the need to check out of all the attention once in a while because they feel stressed or fearful about the upcoming labor and birth, or their transition to parenting. They might not be aware that they will be an integral part of raising their child (or aren’t quite sure how they’ll manage if they have zero baby experience).
The good news? Most partners step up just fine as soon as they meet their little ones. They may need to play a little catch-up, but they usually get the gist pretty quickly. After all, there’s nothing like a new baby to snap even the most tired (and previously-in-denial) parents to attention!
If you need help finding a childbirth preparation class (or even a daddy bootcamp program!) let our birth specialist at Maze help you find the support you’re looking for. And if you’re interested in learning more about Cord Blood and Tissue Banking, request a free information packet. We’re here to help.