Encouragement for prospective (older) dad

[PetitFilou1]

One of my colleagues has just told me (in confidence) that his girlfriend is a few weeks pregnant. She is over the moon but I think he is in shock and having a bit of a roller coaster moment. This is partly because, I think, he is 42 and realises he is in for a bit of a major life change. He is a really nice guy though and he is happy about it - anyone have a similar experience with their partner adjusting to this? My dh was just as excited as me so I'm not sure how to respond but would like to say something useful.....

My DH was 38 when we accidentally got pregnant. He too was a lot more apprehensive (mind you, he'd been a bona fide Batchelor until 6 months before when i came crashing into his life), but thrived on dealing with the 'practicalities' of the impending birth (ie cots, nappies etc) - it gave him a focus, and stopped him feeling quite so useless. As soon as DS was born, it was instant love, and now 18 months later, he's keen to try for another one!

Dh was 45, he was very panicky in the beginning and would complain that there was no books available on the subject of being a dad, initially he was a pain in my bud as he was far more protective of ds than me (if that is possible), but ds is now 16months and they get to do boys stuff over the weekends, he is home an hour before bedtime to play every day and are basically joined at the hip over weekends so I get 2 days to myself!