This past Christmas, my wife presented me with two gifts to open, which I thought was a bit odd.
Tearing open the wrapping on the first box rendered a copy of a book about the history of German soccer. I'd been wanting to read this book for a few years, but had never been able to find it in any local book stores in Calgary. Score!
However, the second gift I opened from her presented a much more life-altering reveal: a positive pregnancy test.
While the news my wife was expecting was of course a big surprise in that moment, I can't say it was a complete and utter shock. The day before, she'd asked me if I could pick up a pack of pregnancy tests while I was out at our local grocery store, where I was buying some last-minute items for our upcoming Christmas gatherings.
Needless to say, the pregnancy was a tough secret to keep from our families over the holidays, and in the weeks afterward as well. We waited until the three-month mark, after the second ultrasound in February before we started to tell our closest friends and family members about the good news.
(As an aside, revealing the ultrasound picture to our respective parents was an absolute blast, and created some emotional moments I'll remember for a long time).
Now that we're past the third ultrasound and my wife is officially 'showing,' I'm finally announcing the news that I'm going to be a parent this summer in a more public setting, i.e. this column.
It's certainly been a whirlwind last few months for us, filled with browsing the baby aisle at Walmart and learning as much as we can about what's to come in the next months. It's no secret that having a baby is a life-changing step, and there's an awful lot of information to digest.
I've learned a lot about pregnancy already, and I know the coming weeks and months will produce even more lessons about having a baby, whether they're found in the pages of What to Expect When You're Expecting, on the box of a Pack-n-Play, a pre-natal class, or at a doctor's clinic.
Of course, as the male, I'll never truly appreciate what it's like to be pregnant and carry around your offspring for nine months. Watching my wife go through it has certainly been inspiring. I admit I also feel some guilt that she has to go through something like this, while all I have to do is support her in any way I can.
All things considered, I'm incredibly excited to be a father. Having recently learned the sex of the baby, my wife and I are also grappling with the challenge of determining a name.
While the thought of everything involved in the next weeks, months, and years can be overwhelming, I can't wait to meet the little guy.
