I'll tell you what doesn't suck

This morning Steve woke up before I did and decided to read a few chapters in a book a friend got us entitled " Pregnancy Sucks: For Men." Pithy title aside, it is meant to take the flowery prose out of pregnancy books and replace it with cold hard realism, in this case for dads. Each chapter describes what he can expect to be feeling, what he can expect to be dealing with by virtue of what I'm dealing with, various tips about how to prepare for the baby, and of course what the baby's up to in there month to month. One thing that I like about these books is that pretty much every single one so far has been written by someone (or by a man married to someone) whose pregnancy has been about 75% worse than my own. Such information serves the dual purpose of making me feel good and reminding my husband how easy he really does have it. :)
I don't know WHAT this book did for him -- maybe it was the sheer power of normalizing our situation or helping him feel more prepared or involved or maybe he did see how easy he has it -- but the man came downstairs an hour later and asked me if I wanted a foot rub. Then later he asked me if there was anything he needed to be buying for me, pregnancy-wise. (I did allow him to buy me a new pair of sandals.) He volunteered to go grocery shopping and the first thing he asked me is if we needed any ice cream. When I got home from that stupid walk pale and panting, he filled up a glass of water for me without being asked and then he ran right out and got me that slurpee.
If they sell a book entitled "The First 3 Years of Child-Rearing Sucks: For Men," you know I'll be the first in line to get it!