I wish I knew how elongated the baby's head would be at birth. I freaked out when I saw the shape of her head. It sorts itself out over the first day or two.

Be prepared for some grossness. Pregnancy does crazy ass things to your body. Puking, lots of puking. Farts, lots of farts, especially while she sleeps. Weird cravings, give her them all 😂. Uber Eats can become your best friend. Be ready for irrational emotions, like crying bc the grocery store is out of flaming hot munchies so you got flaming hot cheetos and that’s NOT THE SAME.

Pregnant women can also be super horny so be prepared to take one for the team if your greasy-haired baby momma comes at you in three day old pajamas.

She might also want zero sex so be prepared to help yourself and just treat her like a Queen, before and after baby comes. Never pressure a postpartum mother into having sex. This is so cringe to have to say but you would be SHOCKED by how many women say their partners are pressuring them to have sex before the doctor even medically clears them. It’s 6-8 weeks so, it’s very doable.

Be prepared for postpartum to be hairy. A woman’s body does amazing things during pregnancy and childbirth… and afterwards it goes a little haywire. PP hormones are insane, postpartum anxiety and depression are extremely common. PP women smell [bad] so their baby recognizes them. She’ll probably wanna live in the DIY mesh diapers for at least a couple of weeks. Her hair will start falling out around 4 months PP and can take about 12-18 months to recover.

If she wants to breastfeed, I recommend researching “how to support your partner through breastfeeding”, versus just researching breastfeeding.

White noise will become your best friend. We have a Dohm sound machine in every room. lol.

*Adding one last thing. Be prepared to go to bat for her. Pregnant women and new mothers are gaslit quite often, and many times it’s by medical professionals and family. Trust her and have her back 100%. Even if it’s up against say… your mom.

My experience as someone who was in his 40's for our son is not so much the pregnancy stuff. My "moment" happened when he was born and I held him (mum was exhausted so I got him for the first couple hours). It almost indescribable to be honest. I found it to be the most emotional moment of my life. It sounds soppy but I felt a real sense of knowing what absolute love was. He was (and still is after nearly 12 years) the most beautiful thing I can imagine (he would roll his eyes hearing it though). I got to be a stay at home Dad which was the best few years ever. Every new development I saw first hand and would blab about it. I wish you the best with your child. As far as the pregnancy goes, just roll with it whatever happens. You're missus will dictate the terms of day to day life but you probably already knew that. 🙄

Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):

ELI5 is not for subjective or speculative replies - only objective explanations are permitted here; your question is asking for subjective or speculative replies.

ELI5 is not for hypotheticals.

If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the detailed rules first. If you believe this was removed erroneously, please use this form and we will review your submission.