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Home › Articles › Fatherhood › Bonding Before Birth

Bonding Before Birth

Get Dad Involved in the Pregnancy

By Teri Brown

Pages:  1  2  3  

The Importance of Communication
Dr. Hoffman-Smith warns moms not to get their expectations too high concerning their husband's involvement. "Some men are just not comfortable with the medical aspects of pregnancy," he says. "Keeping communication lines open can keep misunderstandings from ruining a special time for all of you."

Without solid communication, a woman might feel her husband's reluctance to make a body casting with her may be a distaste for her shape, when in reality it may have more to do with his reluctance to share such an intimate part of her with other people.

Or perhaps she may feel her husband's preoccupation with his work indicates a lack of involvement with her and the baby, when in actuality he's doing what he believes is part of being a father: worrying about the financial care of his family.

For the Sherwoods, the "Letters for Daddy" that Linda concocted are now a precious memory to be treasured, something that drew them together in challenging circumstances. They have kept the letters to share with their daughter how she communicated to her father before she was born. The letters had an added bonus as well, believes Sherwood. "By the time Autumn was born, we felt as if we already knew her," she says.

First-Hand Dad

After delivering a baby in the fire hall a few years before, Don Younker, a firefighter from Alberta, Canada, and iParenting.com's Dad of the Month in March 2002, understood the miracle of childbirth and wanted to be the one to bring his new daughter into this world. "I knew it would be a great opportunity to be involved in the whole experience of having a child," Younker says.

Because of his medical training as a firefighter, their doctor allowed Younker to deliver his baby girl. "It is something my daughter and I will have to share for the rest of our lives," he says.

Younker viewed the entire birth process as a miracle. "Watching what my wife went through for nine hours and then delivering this tiny little being into the world was simply unbelievable," he says.


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