My biggest wish is for them to come up with a way for the men to do it

[littleboyblue]

That's right, let them go through all of this because they just don't have a clue do they? And what they really don't understand is that it isn't 'just' 9 months, so let them
worry about sharing the news
spend 5-6 weeks waiting for tht scan and fretting about mc and mmc
spend all day with their heads sdown the toilet thinking they're going to bring up their insides
go off their favourite foods and spend weeks with a dinner fork in one hand a bottle of mouthwash in the other for the nasty taste everything leaves
have their sense of smell hieghtened by 400%
give up drinking and smoking and the things that bring you a moments pleasure
cut down on chocolate and caffiene
to read that whilst pregnant you should use your mobile phone, eat a McD's incase your child becomes obese, lift anything heavier than a kettle, lets face it, we should all lock ourselves in the cupboard under the stairs, but then we wouldn't get any vitamin D
To watch their waist expand until they can't wear their favourite clothes
to have nipples so senitive that you wish they weren't there
to get stretch marks, all over
to not be able to sleep on your front or your back
to be kicked the hell out of from the inside
to be annoyed when baby kicks for 2 hours from 1am but panic if it doesn't
to feel like the only person worried about life post-pregnancy
to have to carry around a plastic cup in case someone asks you for a urine sample so you don't get it halfway up your arm
to go through endless poking and proding and god knows how many blood tests
to lose all control and fart in a packed lift (they do that anyway don't they)
To not know if it's 'time' and to be sent home to 'relax'
to spend days in labour scared
to try to push a 48cm head out of a 10cm hole
to be left pushing for hours and hours only to discover that you need help to deliver your baby
to have their fun zone cut to make the hole bigger
to be stitched and sore
to scream louder when going to the toilet for the next month than you did in childbirth
when 'it's all over' to not be able to sit down or stand up without holding everything up there
to be up 5-6 times a night (if you're lucky) to cry for no reason at all for at least 2 weeks
to spend at least 6 weeks 'reovering' what a joke

Have I forgotten anything?

to end up having to mainline gaviscon for most of your pregnancy?
to deal with all those "oh you're ready to pop" and "is it twins" comments?
to deal with basically a second puberty again (spots galore, sweats galore, hormones out of control, body hair sprouting in the most unexpected places...)?
to be expected to organise everything to do with the new arrival - and everything else you normally do?
to get to grips with breastfeeding and all the worries that can bring when little one arrives?
to spend hours with cabbage leaves down their tops (and that delightful cooked cabbage smell following you around the rest of the day)?
To be able to use their brain at all despite pregnancy brain attacking?

There's a good reason why men dont do it LBB - they'd never be able to cope! I think all females of our species deserve an enormous pat on the back - and a medal!

Here here

... to lose financial independence and have to keep asking for money (and have to hide from the window cleaners when they come around to collect money for the third time in a week and they can't pay them because once again OH has forgotten to leave them any cash)
... to not be able to wash their own car
... or tie their own shoelaces
... or cut their own toenails
... have to watch you pour yourself yet another glass of Rioja while they can only sit there pretending Ribena in a wine glass is a sufficient substitute
... to have people constantly comment on the size of their belly
... to have to drop massive hints just to get anything resembling a back or shoulder massage/ hug/ shoulder to cry on with frustration
... to lose all sense of physical attractiveness
... to physically gip every time you eat certain foods around them (pickled onions) - but you still do it anyway, and leave the plate stinking on the living room floor/ kitchen worktop/ unrinsed in the dishwasher so the smell hits them in the face next morning when they're feeling particularly queasy

Oh yes, forgot all of those too. Well done.

I will have to get dh to read this, he's been saying what a hormonal short-tempered nightmare I am when pregnant!

dh: (morning after his Christmas do) "Oh now I know how you feel" whilst gently rubbing his tummy and grimacing

me: "you have no fucking idea how I feel and never will".

Stinkyclaus is right, they couldn't handle it.

What's your point?

Raalix
All of the above........
You bloody men!!!

The thing which annoys me about that is if Df could grow babies he would, he'd do it realy bloody well and never complain about it either.. I on the other hand am a walking whinge.

You have good reason to whinge just now Worzsel! Hope everything is still going ok

Awww, but it isn't all that easy for them is it? They do have to put up with our (granted, justified, but albeit still) whinging and moaning, and if you're anything like me, sex is a big no no and has been for months, and my snoring is keeping him awake at night, and he is doing most things around the house because I can't reach/stretch/get the energy together, and he is worried about me going into labour and him not being here for me, and he is just as worried about some problems the baby is having, and he is still working 12 hours+ a day, when I'm not ringing him asking him to come home for one reason or another, and he still get's into bed (most nights, not every night because sometimes he just can't take any more snoring!) and gives my belly a rub and asks how everything is and gives the baby a prod and tells him off for giving me a hard time.

They're not all bad. Sometimes.

"my snoring is keeping him awake at night" - payback time for all the nights I've had to listen to his post-Stella Artois pneumatic drill impressions!

Seriously though, he HAS been great.

At my most hormonal, psychotic and evil he's taken it all without so much as a harsh word in retaliation.

If I snore, he puts his earplugs in (or wakes me up to tell me I'm snoring(!)).

My OCD military style nesting hasn't even caused a raised eyebrow (even when I gave him a sweary final written warning because my pan cupboard systems were failing).

My chocolate cravings were taken care of by him.

He's been happy to go along with ALL my bossy wishes about the baby (except the names - "no" to Rosanna - gutted) - if I said "we need so-and-so baby monitor" he never moaned that it was one of the more expensive ones on the market.

He came along to 95% of my antenatal appointments, even managing to stay in the room for 2 out of 3 blood tests.

He now cooks dinner most nights. And hoovers. And makes regular tip runs to get rid of the endless avalanche of empty cardboard boxes from all the baby stuff.

He has had to watch what he is now spending because we're on reduced money.

He's stopped going away on rock climbing weekends (his passion) in case the baby comes while he's away.

When I had a particularly nasty urinary infection (on holiday in Menorca), and bleeding, and stomach bugs, he was the one who kept calm and sorted out what we were going to do next.

Hardly a complaint about the hideous maternity/nursing bras and Granny Knickers and Full Bush that go along with my pregnancy (because I can't see to sort it out), and when I cry because I feel unattractive he tells me I look lovelier than I ever did because I'm "full of our baby".

You almost made me feel guilty there NatJ
It's easy to forget their good points though isn't it?
Good for you looking on the bright side. I do secretly think my dp deserves a medal living with me when I'm not pregnant! but it's still all his fault and by god will he pay!!

oh yes. I'd LOVE my husband to go through it. Especially since he told me that if men gave birth, they'd not make a fuss and just do it down the pub between pints.

Do you like me new earrings?

Is there any point in discussing men's ability/inability to cope with pregnancy? No-one will ever be able to find out!

Maybe men wouldn't be able to handle it - I say this because men were never designed to get pregnant. Possibly someone up there figured all this out in advance.

There are some things men are just not supposed to do. And the reverse is true for women

(Just getting the tin opener for my can of worms)

Listen to you Raalix!

What things are women just not supposed to do then? Come on you know you want to answer that

Raalix - this is a fun jokey, we're in our third trimester and want to let off steam thread - try not to take it quite so seriously.

Merry Christmas all.