My wife and I just found out that we are expecting like 2 weeks ago ;) This was GREAT news since we had been trying to conceive for quite some time. When we got married 3 years ago we decided to take her little sister (16) out of an abusive household and try to raise her. When we decided to do this we put getting pregnant on the back burner. Not because we wanted to, but because we decided it was the right thing to do. After about 4 months of her sis living with us, she got pregnant. Now not only were we taking care of her sister, but she was expecting. This put major stress on our relationship and household. After living through the pregnancy her beautiful daughter was born. That left us with a 16 year old and a newborn that were not ours. This was a little discerning for my wife and I since we had not not been trying to get pregnant. We just were unable to conceive. After a year and a half, her little sis graduated High School got a decent job and decided to move out. As attached as we grew to her daughter this was a very large step. Plus, now for the first time since we got married my wife and I were able to live in our house as newlyweds. This also allowed us to pursue the dream of having children. After she moved out, we decided that we should contact our doctor to see if there was a reason that we could not get pregnant. But before we contacted the doctor, my wife was late on her period. We didn't really think too much of this since her sis just moved out and we thought my wife's cycle might have been changing. Week after week I kept telling my wife that I thought she was pregnant. About 2 weeks ago my wife greeted me at the door when I came home from work with not one, but two positive pregnancy tests ;) Needless to say, after all this time I was extatic / shocked that we had finally conceived after 3 years. However, over the past week I have become more and more overwhelmed out about the possibility that I'm going to be a dad. I never thought I would feel this way. Especially after pretty much raising my neice through crawling / 1st words / 1st steps. I don't know if this is a normal feeling for most men, but I am stressed about finances, whether I'm going to be a good dad, whether I work too much, pretty much everything. I don't want to stress my wife out though since she is still in the first trimester and that is the most risky time. And really I feel kinda stupid feeling this way. I know that I will be a good dad, I know I have a good job, and I don't work too late. But still, I'm FREAKIN OUT!!! Maybe it's cause I was not my neice's father so I never really had to think of the possibility of me being a failure as a father to her. But I'm sure I will be fine. We just had out first doctor's appoinment today and they said that the preganancy seems healthy. This was a big encouragement, but I still have underlying anxiety ;( Please comment on this blog if you feel at all this way yourself, or if you know someway to stop this feeling of anxiety.
When I was a kid — which, these days, seems like a long, long time ago
— the rules of social engagement seemed clear. You had friends who were
just school chums. You didn’t hang out with them, you didn’t call them.
Then you had better friends to whom you might talk on the phone, or see every so often. Maybe they were friends of friends.
Your best friends were those you hung out with daily and gabbed with on
the phone nonstop. The stereotype was that teen girls burned up the
phone lines, but we adolescent boys used Alexander Graham Bell’s
invention a lot, too. (My friend Cobey and I used to discuss each
episode of “Beavis and Butt-Head” on the horn live. Yeah, as you might
imagine, we weren’t very popular with the ladies.)
And that was about it.
Not to sound like an extreme geezer, but there was no text- or instant-messaging, no MySpace or Facebook, not even the widely used e-mailing. Heck, compared to today, there was little on the Internet period.
When you wanted to call a friend, you usually had to go through the awkwardness of talking to his or her parents, doing your best Eddie Haskell:
“Oh, hello, Mrs. Cleaver. Nice evening, huh? May I speak with Theodore, please?”
No one, not even an extrovert like me, wanted to do this. We all breathed easier when our pal himself answered.
Now, though, many kids older than 10 have their own cell phones, a Verizon Wireless salesman told me recently. So today’s youth no longer have this rite of passage. They can get their friends right away. Or communicate by text-message or IM. I’m glad for them on one hand, sorry they don’t have to suffer on the other.
However, in all seriousness — and my geezer-ness will show here — they probably lose something by not having to learn to properly address adults in this way.
All of these high-tech tools pose modern-day hazards, too. And I don’t just mean that perverts can find your kids on social-networking sites. You know all about that and, fortunately, most of the teenagers I know have enough smarts to avoid sketchy characters online.
Really frightening to me, though, is how Web sites and advances in digital communication can be used for bullying and to blur the bounds of friendship. Spats that would have been semi-private can become tirades against an individual child, and rumors once written down — even just in someone’s Internet posting — can take on a life of their own.
Also, it must be hard to navigate, say, the already-anxiety-producing time of high school when you have some people who are your friends in school and others who are your friends only online and whom you don’t really talk to in class.
Who knows how kids will socialize once my toddler reaches that age?
I can count on only this, I guess: While IM and Facebook may become obsolete, parents, though decidedly low-tech, will always be necessary in some form.
Fredericksburg resident Jonathan Hunley is a columnist for Media General’s Stafford County Sun, and father to a 2-year-old son.
BY JONATHAN HUNLEY
FOR THE STAFFORD COUNTY SUN
latest news on our new dad blog
So, I came across this ridiculous article
about a guy (specifically, an expectant father) who freaked out when
his girlfriend went into labor. I am not sure what's more absurd -the
fact that this guy forgot that he didn't know how to drive or the fact
that it was considered newsworthy or the fact that I am writing about
it!
So, I came across this ridiculous article about a guy (specifically, an
expectant father) who freaked out when his girlfriend went into labor.
I am not sure what's more absurd -the fact that this guy forgot that he
didn't know how to drive or the fact that it was considered newsworthy
or the fact that I am writing about it!
An illegal driver was snared by a police road check as he rushed to be with his girlfriend after she went into labour.
Simon Casswell, 20, said he panicked after hearing he was about to
become a dad and jumped into his car - despite never having taken a
driving test.
He was heading to Colchester General Hospital when police stopped him on Ipswich Road on May 17.
Computer checks revealed Casswell had no licence or insurance.
"My partner went into labour and I panicked and ended up driving,"
he told a court Casswell, of De Burgh Road, Lexden, admitted driving
without a licence or insurance.
Colchester Magistrates court heard he had previous convictions for
motoring offences and had never taken a test Casswell was banned from
driving for a year and fined £100 with £75 costs.