First thing's first

One of the first things that we did when we found out we were expecting was go to the doctor.  The doctor confirms the pregnancy test as they are sometimes not 100 percent.

The second thing the doctor does is educate us and prescribe some prenatal vitamins for us.  It's never too early to start making sure everyone is healthy.  Some of you may already have been taking prenatals as it's not a bad idea to start even before you're pregnant.  Prenatal vitamins can be expensive, so you can substitute over the counter for the prescribed variety if you find that they are too costly.  My wife actually had some trouble swallowing the large pills, so imagine our surprise when the doctor said we could just take flinstone vitamins instead.

Next, you'll want to start educating yourself.  We went to the bookstore and must have looked through a dozen books.  One of the best books to get is What to Expect When You're Expecting.  I highly recommend reading this book.  We ended up with two copies of this book because our doctor gave us a copy as a gift after we had already bought our own.  You'll find yourself turning to this book over and over again as a resource.

So You Just Found out you're Going to Be a Father

I still remember the day my wife told me she was pregnant with our son.  It was Valentine's day.  February 14.  She came to me in the morning and said "Happy Valentine's Day!  I have a surprise for you!"  We dined out that night to celebrate.  No wine for the wife of course.  And the rest is history.

Of course, looking back, the entire experience was a series of trial and errors for us.  We set up all our doctor's appointments of course, and went through the next nine months devouring books, reading about how to take care of a baby, looking into daycare, and then also doing all the day to day things to make sure my wife and baby stayed healthy.

My wife had her bouts of morning sickness.  I hear some women don't go through that, but my wife had it so bad, she even threw out her back one day.  

The baby is almost 2 years old now, and we are starting to get the hang of this parenting business.  I thought I'd go back and document some of the things that we did to prepare for and raise our first child.