10 Reasons...

At 39 weeks, I am almost 10 months pregnant.  What!?!?  They never said you had to be pregnant for 10 months - I always thought it was 9!  :-)  And I am more than happy to be pregnant for that long (okay, maybe not MORE than happy) if it means that this little one will be healthy when he is born.  And while it has been a long, exciting 10 months for me, I know it has also been a long, exciting journey for Andy as well.  So, I wanted to take this moment to list the 10 reasons why he is a wonderful husband and why I know he will be a fantastic father (hey, these wonderful men in our lives need to be honored for dealing with all of our pregnancy shenanigans!)

1.) He tells me I am his beautiful pregnant wife every day.  'Nough said about this one!  :-D

2.) He rolls with my moods - and I really mean rolls!  It has been a bit of a roller coaster for me to be perfectly happy one minute, crying the next, smiling and then angry.  You never know what you're going to get at times!  But Andy has been incredibly patient and supportive through it all - even if I am not so, uh, nice to him.  When I apologize after the fact, he always reassures me that it is okay and that he loves me.  

3.) Our baby loves it when he feels my belly.  Whenever I worry that our little man isn't moving as much, all Andy has to do is place his hand on my tummy.  Then, this little guy gets so excited that he starts doing some interesting combination of somersaults, salsa-dancing, soccer kicks and the running man.  He loves his daddy.  :-)

4.) He is willing to drive to the store to pick up anything I might want - even if he is exhausted himself.  The other night, Andy was working late - I think he left the office at 8:30 or 9 p.m.  He called me from the car and I asked him if we had any ice cream in the house.  It turns out that we didn't, but this wonderful man in my life stopped at the store and picked up a half gallon just for me.  And then, get this, when he got home he DISHED IT UP FOR ME and brought it upstairs to bed so that I wouldn't have to get out of bed (not the most graceful thing anymore) and come downstairs to do it myself!  Can you believe that?  After the stop at the store, he probably didn't get home until closer to 9:30/9:45 and he was still wonderful enough to do that for me.  What a guy!

5.) He goes to the grocery store for me.  These past couple of weeks, being on my feet for extended periods of time is really exhausting for me and has made my back hurt.  So, my wonderful hubby has willingly volunteered to go in my place.  And aside from that first trip, which took him approximately an hour to an hour and a half AND had numerous phone calls home to me, he has done a wonderful job!  And I really appreciate not having to waddle through the aisles right now.  

6.) He ties my shoes.  So, I used to wear slip-ons everyday, but they stopped being supportive enough for me at work these past 2 weeks.  I do have slip-on tennis shoes, but my feet don't fit into them very well right now - thank you very much, water retention!  So, that leaves my running shoes, which are exceedingly comfortable and supportive.  (Thank you to my principals, by the way, for insisting that I dress comfortably at work!)  Well, the downside is that I can't bend over to tie them, so Andy drags himself out of bed each morning to tie them for me.  

7.) He has done the lion's share of housework for the past few months - laundry, cleaning the cat boxes, dishes, cooking, vacuuming, etc.  Now, he has always done some of these (something about me leaving the laundry in the washer for hours before remembering to switch it to the dryer has prompted him to take over that chore each week), but some of them were always my chores or ones that we split.  I love to vacuum, weirdo that I am, but haven't been able to for a while because the repetitive motion made my back really sore afterwards.  The cat box is fairly self-explanatory - pregnant women aren't supposed to touch or come near cat feces; but it still isn't a fun one to do.  :-(  I used to do the cooking for the most part, along with some of the dishes, but after being on my feet most of the day at work, making dinner every night just seemed too much.  So, Andy started cooking more and more - which means we have eaten a lot of pasta, but hey!  Who's complaining?  

8.) He thinks the, ahem, less glamorous side effects of pregnancy are hilarious.  Without going into too many details, let's just say that he's a guy and he appreciates that there are certain things out of my, er, control right now.  And instead of feeling embarrassed by them, he makes me laugh because he thinks it's hilarious!

9.) He has become incredibly involved in getting the nursery ready!  We're talking many hours spent painting the nursery with my dad, time spent putting the furniture together and HOURS spent choosing just the right chair to go in the nursery.  (Let's not talk about that one...it became a sore spot after the 100th chair he showed me.)  This little guy has quite the daddy!

10.) Even though he hates getting his picture taken, he agreed to do a maternity photo shoot just for me.  :-)  Hopefully we will get those pictures back soon and I can post them!  Andy was a real trooper and seemed to actually enjoy the session, even going so far as to choose some places to take pictures, ways to hold lil' man's shoes, etc.  He ended up having a really great time!

I just wanted to share all of these because people focus so much on the mother during pregnancy (and, obviously, there's some very great reasons why), but sometimes forget that the dads are going through it as well.  He clearly cannot understand the physical or even some of the emotional changes/challenges that I have experienced, but that certainly doesn't mean that he isn't feeling or experiencing nothing!  I think it's really important to honor these dads - they have put up with their wives becoming much needier, dependent and, at times, an entirely different person.  Thank you, Andy, for being so incredibly wonderful!  I love you and cannot wait to raise this little baby with you!