"Vanessa and I had been married for two years before we started trying for a baby. We decided not to start straight away as we felt it was important to get used to this marriage lark first. We were also living in South London and it seemed to us that the area was getting worse – more hassle, more weirdoes, more mobile phones with speakers in them!! We’d started to ask ourselves if we actually wanted to bring kids up in London.
Eventually we decided that selling the flat was a good idea as the market was then still buoyant. We stuck with London but every house in our price range was either no larger than our flat or needed too much work (handy I am not) and so we went further afield until we found a lovely house in Kent that was still within fifty minutes of London, so we didn’t feel like we were making too big a move from our friends and family.
Once settled in the house, the serious business of baby-making began. We had being trying for babies for about four months when Ness walked into our bedroom one morning and shrieked me awake with “I’m pregnant!”
After the initial wild emotions and a lot of ‘wows’ and ‘oh my Gods’ came the big question - who should you tell first?
While Vanessa was mulling this over I was secretly thinking ‘Woohoo! No more non sexy sex’. Yes, it’s true; I got fed up of sex while we were trying for the baby. I can practically hear the male derision and gasps. Surely I’m not the only one?
You see, I’d become some kind of sex robot. It seemed that everything had become about body temperatures, monthly cycles and periodic biological data. It was more about processing information to find target dates than creating the miracle of life through a loving union.
This getting pregnant business had taken all the fun out of intercourse - what if I didn’t fancy it Monday to Wednesday of week 3?
However, that’s all forgotten pretty quick, and once you realise that a baby is growing inside your partner that you’ve both created, it’s a pretty amazing feeling.
...And just you wait until the first scan - if you don’t use the word ‘miracle’ I will be very surprised."
Next week: Pregnancy Brain!
Dads Space contributor Simon Payne loves going to rock gigs, adding to his collection of Aztec tattoos, good wine, football and his PlayStation. He's also the co-founder of Mind Adrenaline, a team building and events company that specialises in organising creative days out for organisations around the globe.
He readily admits he is a bit of a late starter.