Well after a couple of months away writing my second book I’m back blogging.

Tonight I’ve been assembling our babies cot and I think I’ve discovered a new meaning of the term cot death!

How five pieces of wood can take two hours to assemble is still a mystery but it did.  I must say I’m pleased with the final result - its a really nice simple cot - but have I worked up a sweat!  I must have assembled, disassembled and reassembled half a dozen times.  In fact I was so hot and sticky after the ordeal, I went for a walk in the cool autumn rain just to cool down.

Now I’m the first to admit that I’m not the best DIY’er, but still, the instructions could have been more helpful.  There were literally three steps:

1.  Attached the sides to the end boards.

2. Attach the base to the end boards.

3. Tighten all bolts and poition in the room.

Though a lot of Y’s morning/all-day sickness has thankfully abated she is still suffering from a lot of heartburn. I heard that this was a sign that the baby would be born with a full head of hair. Originally I thought that this wasnothing more than an old wives tale and not just because it was told to me by an old wife.

Just to prove my point I did some research and what do you think I found? Some scientists at the John Hopkins University have found a positive correlation between heartburn during pregnancy and the amount of hair your baby is born with. You can read the abstract for yourself here.

So what with Y being Japanese and having a full head of jet black hair I expect our little bundle of joy will be blessed with similiar strong oriental locks.

Well haven’t we been busy! After coming back from holiday we went straight to the hospital for Y’s 12 week ultrasound.

I’m in complete awe. I never thought the baby would be so developed and would move quite so much. In fact it was turning this way and that, kicking its little match-stick legs and waving its little arms with such energy that I’m starting to wonder if there’s such a thing as pre-natal ADHD!

I’m proud to display the very first photo of our child, the first of many I’m sure. Everyone says it looks like me but how on earth they come to that decision is completely beyond me.

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I’ve often heard how we men have it easy when it comes to pregnancy. We’ve done our bit and now we just sit and wait. Seeing what Y’s going through I’d have to agree – to a point.

Men have it difficult too. We have to suddenly adjust to being responsible for the housework, which of course must be kept to the same high standards as before or face the wrath of your wife when her next mood-swing takes hold.

Y’s taken a liking to massage and that means I’m the only available candidate. I thought I’d be a pretty good masseuse but not according to my wife who thinks I’m crap and isn’t afraid to let me know, now that her hormones have kicked in.

I’m also chief dog-walker, laundry-man and chef. But let’s be honest, that’s not to say Y doesn’t help by doing her bit. Why only yesterday she promoted herself to “Head of the TV Remote” and “Queen of the Sofa” – which basically means, when she needs to stretch out, lowly serfs such as I sit on the floor.

Still there is one thing that makes all of this worthwhile, one thing that gives me hope and something to look forward to when faced with another pile of laundry and the heat of the steam iron…

Going down the pub, a place Y used to love but alas can no longer frequent. Instead I drink to her health before ordering another pint and on my return explain in minute and painful detail the wonderful time I have had and the many beers I have savoured.

Cheers love - fancy another mineral water.

OMG, a post on my other blog, Complete Kaizen, has just won a “Top Post Award” from the Improved Life blog carnival!

If you’re into life hacks and self improvement why not go over have have a look at the other posts. There’s lots there to choose from and all top notch. As for my winning post you can read that here. It provides tips on how to tweak your budget so as to give you more money to spend and save (good advice for a daddy-to-be like me).

Well, now I’ve won top place I suppose it’s all downhill for my other posts, and to think Complete Kaizen was such a young blog too. Damn I always peak to soon.

I’m really impressed with the NHS, Britain’s free National Health Service. Last week Y visited the midwife for the first time and came away with a whole bag stuffed full of mummy-to-be goodies.

Magazines, books, leaflets, a diary, all on the joys of pregnancy and all for free. It even included a photo wallet for your first scan and a prescription charge exemption card.

Here’s a photo for the curious:
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As an expectant mother, Y’s entitled to free medicine. Though the NHS provides a free health service, it’s only at the point of care - you still need to pay for medication bought at the local pharmacist. However, now that Y is pregnant, if she gets a cold or needs some other medication, she just waves her plastic mummy-to-be ID and receives it free of charge. What’s even better is how it carries on for a full 12 months post-birth (check out the expiry date)!

Now, I wonder were she’s hid the daddy-to-be bag of goodies?

As a boy I was a member of the Scout movement whose motto was, and probably still is, “Be Prepared.” My wife is Japanese so being prepared is part of her DNA (damn, those Japanese are organised). As such we’ve been preparing a choice of names for our baby in readiness for the birth next February.

Choosing a name is probably an expectant couple’s first encounter with parental responsibility. Whatever name they choose will stay with the child for their entire life. Their name will define who they are and how they’ll be perceived by others.

Just to add to the pressure, it’s important for us that the name sounds the same whether pronounced with a British or Japanese accent. For this reason we’ve decided on short names containing syllables which sound alike in either Japan or Britain.

To add even more pressure, I believe that names must flow. That means names with hard syllables must be balanced by softer sounding names. In Japan children are only given one name, so it’s much easier, and having two names sounds very international. We’ve decided on two names, the first will be short containing sounds common to the two languages, the second long so as to add balance and flow.

I’ve written more about how we went about choosing our child’s name over at Complete Kaizen and I’m pleased to say that, after much deliberation, we’ve finally arrived at two names for a girl and two for a boy. Of course we’ll have to wait until the 20 week scan in August before we know for sure which name our child will carry through life.

For a girl we’ve chosen Hannah Samantha. Hannah is also a Japanese name, spelt Hana and meaning flower. If our baby is a boy, we’ve chosen Noah Christopher. Noah is becoming a popular name in the UK and fits our criteria nicely with each syllable sounding the same in both Japanese and English. I also believe that when you include the surname Scotchmer, both names have a nice rhythm and flow.

We hope we’ve done right by these names and we hope that either Hannah or Noah will be pleased with our choice. In fact thinking about it, that’s another lesson learnt from our “naming day” exercise. No matter what we do for our child, at the end of the day all we can do as parents, is hope.

I’ve always thought of myself as being quietly confident in both my abilities and myself. I’m not a natural worrier; I’m usually content allowing things to simply happen and take their natural course. Obviously if I sense a threat or some other unpleasantness, I make changes or try and avoid the situation, but on the whole I just try and let events unravel themselves naturally. Que sera, sera.

Wow, becoming a father has changed all that. Now I’m full of anxiety and concern. What if I drop the baby? Will we make good parents? What if there’s something wrong with the baby? What if…

I’ll tell you, this expectant Dad lark is not for the naturally nervous!

‘Y’ is suffering today from morning sickness - or should that be all day sickness. It’s pretty dreadful by the sound of things.

Many people have recommended eating something dry to alleviate the symptoms. A biscuit, a piece of dry toast with a cup of tea. In fact nearly everyone we talk to recommends eating something dry so there must be something to it. After all, so many can’t be wrong, can they?

I’ll make her some ginger and lemon tea to take with her digestive and we’ll see if that helps. She seems to like sour and spicy tastes recently.

In hindsight I suppose those deep-fried, greasy Spring Rolls we had last night were a bad idea.

Life will never be the same again.  For the past 12 months, my wife ‘Y’ and I have been trying for a baby. Unfortunately, month after month, all we saw in the test kit window was a thin blue line.

Then, when our spirits were shot, we saw what we’d longed for all this time… A blue cross.

We’re pregnant!

This blog is my story on becoming a father for the very first time.