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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lockridge" data-source="post: 3682664" data-attributes="member: 43850">Are you planning on attending a pre-natal course?  You should.  It will give you a lot of tips on what to do and how you can coach your wife during labour.  Your role is important - that encouragement, love and support is absolutely needed.Have you discussed painkillers?  This is very personal and you and your wife should not only be on the same page before you get to the hospital but you need to ensure that the hospital staff is as well.Not for everyone advice:  My wife chose not to use painkillers at all after seeing a video in a prenatal class that compared babies whose mothers used painkillers and babies whose mothers had not.  The babies whose mothers used painkillers were not alert or aware because the painkillers seep into their system as well as the mother's.  Did you know that a baby laid on its mother's chest will often find its way to the nipple on its own and start sucking?  Babies whose mothers used painkillers just laid there.  Our experience was similar.  Our baby was born alert and lively.Once again, this is our experience and results will vary for everyone.Get ready to lose touch with some freinds.  Not that they are bad friends or anything but I've found that some folks just don't understand why calling or dropping in like they used to isn't acceptable anymore.  Even friends with children of their own may forget what its like.  Also, you will find that depending on the stage of your baby, you can't plan anything for more than two hours at a time before another feeding or nap is needed.  When very young your baby can sleep anywhere with anything going on but a little later you will find that this isn't the case.In our case, our in-laws (who have three kids of their own) have now invited us over twice and served supper after 7PM.  By this time the baby is tired and cranky and its time for us to go home.  She won't nap at their place because there are too many other kids around.  They sometimes act like we should stay late even though the baby's miserable.  Then they get that "we've been through it and you are worrying too much air about them".  Even though I remember them leaving our place early when their children were 12 months old.Enjoy the early stage when they will eat and sleep anywhere.  You may even be able to continue gaming.  That will typically end a few months later when they are more aware.  This is when you may find that you need to invite people over to your house rather than go to theirs.For down the road:Get ready to change your eating habits.  If you are a snacker like I am, your child will try to follow in your footsteps.  I'm now trying to live in a world without chips and M&Ms every night.Also for down the road:After your baby hits about six months old (or before) you will notice relatives and friends giving him/her chocolate, cake, ice cream and so on.  Babies do not need this nor will they miss it.  A baby's stomach is only as big as their fist.  Now imagine what a plate full of cake will do.I've found that relatives like to give children sweets more for their own sakes rather than the baby's.  The relative likes the smile they get from the baby and the way the baby will eat it all up.  Of course they forget that this will cause the baby to get a sugar high, stomach ache and will vomit.Learn some diplomacy to deal with this.Ok, I've contributed way more than you asked but this topic just opened up a valve of experiences for me.  I do wish I had this list 16 months ago.</blockquote>

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