I guess that is the last post really before I am a 2nd time dad. Yup, I am very excited. Ecstatic really.

The last weeks….in particular…were the hardest. Anyone who prepared to be a dad will come across several issues. One of the most obvious is your wife/partner. She does change with pregnancy. It is due the hormones they say. And of course they are right. They keep forgetting a lot, being more moody but overall more nesting too. That means they excel in cooking and DIY However, I do not want to write a guideline on how to deal with pregnant women.

I just thought I summarise the last few weeks. My wife agreed that I am allowed to mention her high blood pressure. But to be honest, there have been more problems with this pregnancy right from the beginning which limited my wife, our travel plans and our lives. We accommodated that all very well, and I think the whole pregnancy was ok-ish.

But the past weeks my wife’s blood pressure went up. That is not only dangerous to the baby but can potentially be dangerous for her too. Some problems and diagnosis were unclear, and we got shocked a couple of times whether damage had been done to either of them. And whilst of course we don’t find out until the wee man arrives, we are hopeful (and so are the doctors) that things are ok. So fingers crossed.

It also meant that out of nowhere my wife called me at work. I dashed home, drove her to hospital. She stayed a few nights in, was released with blood pressure drugs and just when we settled into our routine, there was a new potential problem. Same scenario.

My employer is quite lenient. So it was fine for me to leave at noon, going to hospital with my wife. Then I left her at 7 pm, going home to work until midnight. Flat out really.

But we wouldn’t have been able to do that without our always so helpful (direct and indirect) neighbours. They have been stars throughout the pregnancy looking after Colin at short notice, and jumping in to feed the cats. They are absolutely fantastic.

And, not least, my MIL – yes the evil MIL – no, we not only getting along quite fell for living in such a small space, she has been so great helping my wife doing the household, ironing my shirts, letting us sleep in etc. etc. For (in all respect) age and condition she has been a star throughout and without her we couldn’t have not managed.

So we are looking forward to Wednesday (tomorrow, or in 2 days at time of writing), not only to welcome our 2nd son, but also to put a stop to a stressful time. A time where we didn’t know what happens, didn’t know what tomorrow, today or the next hour brings. A time when I went home sick from work to find myself in the parking lot connecting to work via mobile dongle whilst my wife got checked out, me being pumped up to my eyes with painkillers.

We get our life back. We get certainty back. We are hoping for a healthy child, little complication, and fingers crossed, less frequent hospital visits. I can only feel and think of people with ill children/relatives who are under that constant pressure all the time. Only now I can understand how good our life is, and hopefully I will be able to cherish this one, showing love to all the other lives around us.

Not long now, and thank you all!
Volker