Pre-birth, there is a crap ton of expectation.
Whether this is pressure you are putting on yourself, pressure from family, pressure from your partner, or just pressure from amorphous nothingness that is the media and society in general.
You are probably really looking forward to being a dad, a touch apprehensive about the changes in your routine, and terrified about what is actually going to happen. And if it’s not your first child, there is probably added worry about how it will impact your other little person (or the whole tribe…).
Expectation is going to be a whole pile of “shoulds” probably. How you should be feeling; what you should be doing to get ready; what you should be doing for your partner; how you should be responding to your partner; what you should be thinking about… the list goes on.
These expectations are going to be influenced by your own upbringing; either a “yep, do it like that” or “nope, do the opposite of that!!”.
Alternatively, they are going to be influenced by previous relationships; by friends who have had kids; and by all the jibber jabber from acquaintances, TV, movies, social media, websites, self help books…
Rest assured! The fact that you are worried about it, means you will probably do ok.
As long as you maintain as much communication with your partner (and make sure you guys make the decisions… not the ‘others’), be aware that her view of the world is likely quite different (and be as open and willing to consider that as is humanly possible), try to be ‘the calm’ in the emotional storm as much as possible, and go locate whatever food cravings she wants (trust me… 12 years, and I still hear about that one) and you will come through this on the other side, trooper!
