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Whoa, Baby! Men Can Have Pregnancy Anxiety, Too

By The Stir. Posted on Jul 7th 2011.

A pregnant gal dishes on her hubby's stress and anticipation for their baby's arrival.

This weekend, my husband had his first pregnancy-related anxiety dream (that I know of), only instead of it being about a rumbling avalanche of stinky, poopy diapers, he had a dream about driving around in a van. Allow me to explain: In his dream, he and I get picked up for a rafting trip. The van continues to drive around and around and around for what was apparently hours (in his dreamland), until finally, we end up back at the hotel, where the driver tells us that the trip has been postponed until another day.

While normally I'm the one who likes to analyze and dissect a dream to death, for this one, it seems my husband already had a handle on it. He told me that basically, he thought this dream was about the limbo of waiting for our twin babies to come already, that his subconscious was basically telling him, "Alright, let's get on with this thang!" And I realized that as much as I want this pregnancy to last another few weeks, he's in pregnancy purgatory.

Of course, I've been loving this pregnancy...well, I HAD been loving this pregnancy until the last couple of weeks, since I've stopped sleeping and I'm suddenly itchy all over. And we've both really wanted our babies to go the distance and make it to 38 weeks, so they can get as big and strong and healthy as possible. I had sort of thought my husband was on the same page: excited, but also terrified at the thought of impending parenthood. And he is, or, at least, he was. Apparently, all those nerves that he was having early on, he processed and put away awhile ago. Now, he's just ready to get his baby Daddy game on!

Is your man also anxiously waiting for the stork's delivery? Read more at The Stir: My Husband Is Having Pregnancy Anxiety

Written by Jenny Benjamin