SELECT * FROM Shane

So, it’s January 29, and only four days until Katie’s due date. Which means that the baby could be here any day now.

I have already posted about my anxieties about the upcoming birth and aftermath, and have been writing pretty extensively about my excitement in the baby’s diary, which will be gifted to her when she can read. So I won’t go into any of that here. Instead, I have decided to post a picture that shows Katie at 39 1/2 weeks, absolutely glowing.

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Tomorrow, Katie will be 37 weeks pregnant. Anywhere between 37 and 41 weeks is considered full term, which means that our baby could be born at pretty much any time now. Which means I am about to become a dad.

And while I wouldn’t have it any other way, I find that – just as with anything important – I’m worrying a lot about the future.

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Katie has responded to my blog post “Career or Baby” on her blog with the aptly titled “Response to ‘Career or baby” – Part One and Part Two.

I feel that my position has been slightly misrepresented in these posts, and so I will take the opportunity presented by having my own blog to respond to her response with some clarifications of my position.

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This story is just one of many I have read recently dealing with the effect a baby can have upon a woman’s career. It basically says that studies show the majority of women view having a family as being incompatible with their rise up the corporate ladder. Regardless of the accuracy of the study, this is something that has popped up in the media time and again recently.

In this post, I have decided to explore my feelings on the issue. Even though we decided to have our first child before Katie began a career, I’m sure this is an issue that Katie and I will face in the future, either with ongoing childcare arrangements, or with second/third/etc children.

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Last night, Katie and I attended our first antenatal class at the birth centre in Canberra Hospital. The class ran from 7 until after 9:30, and let me tell you, by the end, there were ten pregnant women looking extremely tired, haggard, and uncomfortable.

Katie and I left the class with a profound sense of disappointment, and a reasonable amount of frustration/anger, too. The class last night was about breastfeeding, and SIDS – both important topics, to be sure, but we had expected to cover labour, and the hospital’s policies and procedures surrounding the event of birth (additionally, I would have expected a lengthy focus on the incredibly important and weighty issue of SIDS, but alas, that accounted for about ten minutes of our 2.5 hour class). Instead, we had to sit there and listen to an incredibly judgemental lecture about how breastfeeding is the only option for baby, and anything else will impede development.

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