The MSM (for want of a better descriptor at this moment), including local TV news departments, tend strongly to present families as consisting solely of a mother and her children, even if there does exist a supportive resident husband and father. Whether or not said mother is married also tends to be an overlooked element.
Now, let’s not judge...It’s all good...
I do wonder about the father’s role in pregnancy.
When I became pregnant with my first, I quit working. My husband was the breadwinner and I was allowed to sew the layette, cross-stitch some pieces for the babies room and focus on my own nutrition. I had a perfect pregnancy and a beautiful, full-term daughter.
When I became pregnant with my second, I had some problems. Blood clots kept forming behind the placenta and it would get partially worked away from the wall. I’d rest for a couple of weeks, the clot would dissolve and the placenta would repair itself. This happened throughout the pregnancy.
I was allowed to rest. My infant daughter was taken care of by neighbors and daycare and my husband picked up the house-work and childcare in the evenings. We ended up with a healthy, *FAT* baby boy.
If I hadn’t been married, had I been forced to work, I’m convinced that my son wouldn’t have made it. I know that a loving, supportive husband contributed to my children’s births.
I don’t think that it would’ve been the same even had my mother taken care of me as well as my husband did. There’s something mentally comforting about having a husband that can’t be replaced. Knowing that my children and I were going to be supported throughout their childhood was a good feeling. Being lovingly cuddled by a big, warm, protective *man* is a feeling like no other. Nobody but a husband can make a woman feel so safe and loved. That *has* to contribute to a relaxed and happy mama which makes for a better pregnancy.