This thread has been set up by the husband of one of the regular posters to Ivillage''s

pregnancy board.  An attempt to start a discussion amongst the dads was met with quite some

resistance to making the forum ''mixed'', so any dad who wants to post anything further is

welcome to come here and do so.

Chaz,

I know exactly what you mean.  I suppose it is only natural to focus on the person who is going

through the physical changes, but I think it''s an excellent idea for dads-to-be to get involved

with the process - this is the twenty-first century!  That''s why I was a bit disappointed with

the response your excellent suggestion got, but never mind.

This is all new for me, as this is our first pregnancy, and I''m nervous as hell about it.  Part

of me couldn''t believe it until our 12 week scan last week.  I can''t wait to find out whether I

have a son or a daughter on the way, I don''t want to wait until the birth to find out; there''ll

be enough going on on the day without that element of uncertainty!

Anyway, here''s hoping this can develop into a forum for dads-to-be to rival the excellent

support network mums have....

All the best,

James

Hi Clare, thanks for the kind words left here! it seems dads cant be involved as much as they

would like...i think its so sad that these men..our hubbys/partners were directed away from i-

village, i also think its a little sexest to say its a women only board! after all it took all of

the ladies two of them to make their little beanies!
still never mind, its a good job our hubbys dont object to us posting here isnt it!
Good luck to all the dads here as well as any women who want to post here aswell.
Love Lara xxxx (Chaz wife)

I have to agree with the comments about the ivillage forum...obviously the blokes read the

message boards, and anyone who thinks they don''t are either very naive or have extreme tunnel

vision!
Nice to see the ladies posting here, it creates a nice balance I think, we should ALL be sharing

our experiences with each other and not be blanking the partners.
great to see you here Karl, Clare..thanks for the support, Lara (my dearest) XXX, and a big

thanks to James for making me aware of this site!
Chaz

Seems this one has won by a score of 7 to 1 (not counting the posts I did to start them both

off), so I''ll carry on here for a while.

I don''t know what topics people want to talk about, so I''ll just do a brief """"brain-dump"""".

 I am a first time father-to-be, and part of me still can''t believe it, despite the positive

preganancy test (both home and at the GP''s) and the twelve-week scan we had last week that

showed my son/daughter from head to toe, complete with heartbeat.  All I could think of at the

time was ... Wow!  Did I really do that?  (Well, with some help from DW, of course, but still,

you guys will understand - after all, is there any better way to prove your masculinity than to

prove your fertility to the whole world?!).

I guess it''s now just about sinking in, which means that I''m having to face up to the fact that

my life as I knew it is over, and a whole new one is about to begin.  And that''s scary, but at

the same time I can''t wait.

So that just about sums it up, but I''d love to hear how the rest of you are feeling.

Wow Clare your gonna have your hands full...then again you have a built in babysitter lol, its

good we can post here aswell i think, its always good to get the guys oppinion on things i think,

so it looks like it could be just you and me out of the women who are gonna post here aswell!!!
Love Lara xx

Hi Jason, our son also has autism, ( aspergers to be precise ) its hard work isnt it, what does

your son think of the new baby coming along? our son is currently in a special needs school for

children with the same problems, he also had learning difficulties so he has really benifited

form going to this school, unfortunatley it took us years to get him a place, so he only started

last September at the age of 10 so he has a lot of catching up to do! still better late than

never eh!
Lara xxx