Sympathetic Pregnancy

Are you gaining as much weight as your wife during her pregnancy? Are you experienceing morning sickness, nasea, or food cravings? If you answered yes to either of those questions, then you may be experiencing Couvade Syndrome. This is when the male has similar symptoms as the female during pregnancy. These symptoms can include, rapid weight gain, moodiness, cravings, morning sickness, vomiting, headaches, and diarrhea.

The best part about sympathetic pregnancies is that you never know if it will affect you or not. The symptoms can begin during the end of the first trimester but, there have been those who start feeling them right away. These symptoms can last until the third trimester or until mommy gives birth.

 I am not a doctor but, the human body does some weird things sometimes. Think about it, when bills arrive in the mail who stresses over paying them? When the car breaks down who does it effect? The answer is both of you! Stress can sometimes make us sick in ways that we could never imagine. Stress leads to ulcers and heart attacks. Why can't stress lead to sympathetic pregnancy. That may be a long shot because I don't think there is any predisposed marker to Couvade Syndrome, but it seems reasonable. The man of the house is suddenly responsible for feeding another mouth, this requires making more money which requires putting more hours in at work. You can see how it snowballs. I wouldn't be surprised if this could cause weight gain, headaches, maybe not morning sickness but like I said, I am not a doctor.

Grab some tums, and try not to complain more than your partner, who actually has a baby inside her!

What is your take on Sympathetic Pregnancy? Do you think it's real?

The First Gyno Appointment

Gynecologist... Get used to saying it fellas. You will be making monthly trips to this lovely doc for the first few months then bi-monthly trips, then weekly trips (depeneding on your situtation and the doctors prefrences of course). You need to learn to be comfortable not having any of the attention. This is all about your lovely mommy to be. She is the one that is pregnant, not you. Repeat this like a mantra in your head. It is easy to want to pipe up and give your 2 cents but please refrain. Use this time to soak everything in and learn as much as you can about what mommy has to look forward too. This way you can be ahead of the game when any situation arises. Usually they will weigh her, make her pee in a cup, and possibly take blood samples. (remember, this is from my experience. Every doctor can/probably will be different. This first appointment is usually too early to hear any heart beat of the babies. Don't worry if the doctor tries and is unsuccessful. Right now your baby is extremely tiny.

It is important to try and be at this appointment, the gyno will need important family health history and it's good to know yours and your wifes blood types. Off the top of my head I believe that if both parents are O- then there is a special shot mommy needs around 28 weeks to prevent any incapatability issues with the baby. Again, I am no doctor. Other than that these appointments don't take long and are really just to monitor mommy as the process evolves. It is important that you are there for her at this time, it will show that you are wanting to learn and be involved. So take a break from Call of Duty and get your butt to the Gynecologist. Maybe mommy will take you out for ice cream after!

Tip of the day: Be there for your wife/girlfriend/partner/whatever title fits. YOU'RE A TEAM!