Preggo the Hunn: The 1st Trimester

Alright, so we have conception! The little blue line, plus sign, or (in our case - extremely dummy proof) "pregnant" digital readout has shown up on the pee stick, and now you and your partner are officially in the pregnancy era of your life.

If you're like the average American male, most of your pregnancy knowledge up to this point has come entirely from romantic comedies.  The first trimester is usually handled by the doctor saying, "Kids, you're pregnant!" followed by a 15 minute montage of the baby momma throwing up or gagging. And then bam! 2nd trimester.

Please note that although every pregnancy is different, the 1st trimester will probably be the hardest, as your spouse's body is jolted with a metric ton of new hormones, while simultaneously building a biological Death Star for your little Darth Vader to hang out in for the next few months. (It's also important to note that, regardless of how much planning went into making this baby, every bad feeling your wife has will be 100% entirely your fault.  Always keep in mind that you're getting the easy job, and try to stay empathetic.)

Besides the nausea, your spouse will be sapped of a ton of energy, as the Death Star is being built and it requires a lot of energy. Be prepared to do a lot more of the chores around the house for the time being, especially ones dealing with food.  Pregnant women have a super human sense of smell, the vast majority of the smells causing nausea. Doing the grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning will help out with this tremendously. If this sounds like a lot, just remember that you are about to be taking care of an entire life - this is pretty much what you signed up for.

It's not all awful though, here are some best parts of the 1st Trimester:

Boobzilla - Breast growth is one of the first effects of all those hormones your wife is getting hit with.  Your spouse will be more voluptuous than ever. I know, it's awesome. But be gentle, they'll also be more sensitive.

The 2nd Sonogram - I say the 2nd one because our first sonogram happened at around 6 weeks, and my baby was a dot outside a ring.  It was the most beautiful dot outside a ring I've ever seen, don't get me wrong. But not a lot to look at. Two weeks later we could actually see the head, body, and limbs

Beautiful, but dull.  Like a supermodel. Or an antique knife set.

Hearing the Life's Dubstep - By 11 weeks or so, you'll be able to hear the heartbeat of your tadpole chugging along at about 160 bpm.  Bonus points if you dance to the beat.

Thanks for reading!