When we learned that we were going to have a baby, Big Guy and I were Cautiously THRILLED. We knew that a lot of pregnancies didn't progress to the 12 week point, so we kept a low profile and tried not to get too excited until we hit that point. For the first three months, I felt really tired and some days felt pretty awful- throughout the whole first trimester, I kept waiting for him to clean the apartment- to do the dishes, to take out the trash, do a load of laundry....ANYTHING!!!! And he never did! I had to resort to asking him to clean...and still nothing. We bought him an Expectant Father book- where they kept stressing how important it was to do more than your share around the house in those early days because your partner feels lousy--still....NADA... I cried, I hinted, I yelled, I alluded...NOTHING! Finally came 12 weeks and a major MELTDOWN. My receptionist at work told me I had a delivery- and I went up to get it and saw that it was a beautiful pink and green arrangement in the square vase that was wrapped in a pink satin ribbon and tied with a bright green ribbon. I was so happy because I thought, even if he didn't clean, he made the effort to send me flowers on the day that was so long in coming....and the first day I felt free to be excited! I looked at the card....It was from my parents...Big guy didn't even get me a card. He didn't clean the apartment. He didn't even say anything! Don't get me wrong- Big Guy is very excited to be a father and talks to my belly and reads his father book and is generally a very supportive man- but there was NO EXTRA EFFORT WHATSOEVER! Hence the major meltdown! It wasn't pretty- but I think it scared him straight. It happened Thursday night, and he took Friday afternoon off and cleaned the apartment. Since then- he has made our bed every day, and he even helped me make bachelorette invitations last night. He printed the text, cut them to size and even stamped the polka dots so that they all matched perfectly! He has done a total 180. It is so nice and I am reminded that he may be stubborn and a slow starter- but he is a wonderful husband and I love him very much.
