Tips for Dad: The Second Trimester

Tips for Dad: The Second Trimester

PC: Jean Smith Photography

As a dad-to-be, the second trimester is when the reality of becoming a parent started to settle in.  By this point all of our family knew we were expecting and we were comfortable that we wouldn't have a sudden mis-carriage. Several activities made the idea of becoming a dad a reality.

Former Chicken Lover

My entire marriage my wife and I have really loved chicken; in fact, we probably use it for dinner several times a week. Chicken is one of those staple ingredients you can use in so many tasty foods and the recipes. Plus, the recipes are usually easy enough that even I can make them! However, some time during the second trimester our chicken world got flipped upside down.  I don't know how or why it happened, but suddenly my wife couldn't even stand the smell of chicken. Which was very unfortunate for me.

For instance, one day me being the helpful and cost saving husband, instead of eating out I thought it would be nice to cook up a bunch of chicken thighs for dinner. Having not yet discovered the wonderful world of Pinterest recipes I added my own mix of spices to it, threw it into the oven, and cooked it for about an hour. Meanwhile I continued to clean up and prepare a few vegetables. With the smell of deliciousness spreading throughout the house I removed the chicken from the oven and took my food to the couch. Big mistake! With my wife was curled  up in a ball on the couch, she responded by saying, “Move or I am going to Barf on you!!” The delightful smell of chicken was so bad for her that she said for the past hour it had been making her really sick. I felt so bad that I had cooked it and made her sick! The only good part about this whole ordeal is I had all the chicken to myself - but of course it would needed to be re-heated elsewhere. My wife's new hatred for chicken smell never went away for the remainder of the pregnancy, and from then on chicken was banned from the house. Without our staple meal we began to experience the wonderful world of eating out more often, which was actually good because I could still get my chicken fix without the smell.

Shopping Time!


Tea Collection Chilla Twirl Top

With the baby now being somewhere between the size of a lemon and a turnip, it is time to spend some money on new supplies to comfort both mom and baby. Included in this shopping trip is new clothes for mom and future baby. You may be wondering why to get clothes for your unborn child? The answer is simple: "because it's cute." I could expound on that, but I think all of us guys know how it works; plus, you are going to need them anyway so it might as well be now. My wife and I found a love for Tea Collection clothing for our little baby.  We like their style of clothes because they make our cute little girl look like a mini adult. They have great designs, including a cute fox shirt, which was awesome since my wife's favorite animal is a fox.  

Toward the end of the 2nd trimester is when sleeping for my wife became a struggle, so we started searching and learning about the different types of pregnancy pillows that are available. We ended up getting one very similar to the Luna Lullaby Dream Body Pillow. This maternity body pillow really helped her sleep more comfortably since she was trying to adjust to not sleeping on her stomach (which, if you know my wife was a REAL struggle).

Gender Reveal Party!!

You may or may not like the idea of doing a gender reveal party, and truthfully they may not be for everyone. I was not totally on board with the idea at the beginning, especially going through the torture of not watching the ultrasound while they identified the gender. My wife and I could not agree on how we wanted to do the gender reveal. She wanted to have a cake that we cut to see if it is pink or blue. I wanted to do a box full of pink and blue balloons that we opened. Since we couldn’t agree on one, we chose to do both options at the same time and make it competition to see who could find out first. Which is faster you ask? Cutting open a box or cutting a piece of cake? I assumed the rule was she would have to make two cuts as if she is cutting a real piece to serve, but I guess that was my first mistake - to assume there were rules. At the exact moment we started the competition in front of all of our friends and family, she skimmed a piece straight off the side in one cut. As I was only halfway through opening the box I glanced over and saw that hers was cut open and I sad, "Crap!" and then continued to hurry and work on opening my box. Totally didn't mean to say "crap" because the color was pink, I was saying that because I was losing the competition. But that is definitely not how all of our friends and family saw it. My bad! Guess I get a little too involved in competitions. The only one that was still surprised the balloons were pink when I finally struggled to get the box all the way open was me.  Better luck next time for me I guess ;) And yes, there will be a next time. Overall the gender reveal party was definitely worth the time and effort to put on. We just need to establish a set of rules next time!                  

So, my fine fathers-to-be. Just remember these three things to get you through the second trimester: you don't always get to eat what you want, "It's cute" is a real reason, and don't say "Crap!" when you find out the gender. Do that, and you'll be just fine!

Written by Scott Chandler
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