The Baby Playbook: A Guide for the Fellas

By Darrell Robinson, Jr.

A book for expectant fathers who want to know what's coming up in the next 9 months. Taken with a different approach than the other books on the shelves - no corny jokes or assumptions that men are incapable of understanding anything about pregnancy. Straight and to the point.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781312738782

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The Baby Playbook: A Guide for the Fellas

THE BABY PLAYBOOK: A GUIDE FOR THE FELLAS

By Darrell Robinson, Jr.

DEDICATION

I dedicate this to my beautiful wife Brittany Robinson and my son Jaden Robinson. We all played a part in this process but I was on the bench most of the time! I love you two!

INTRODUCTION

Wednesday, November 19th around 7:15 PM. Exactly 1 week before my 33rd birthday. Even though we just began trying a couple weeks ago, the signs were there. Several couples in our circle were pregnant. No, seriously. 4 couples had either just had a child or were expecting. Different TV shows that we watch were coincidentally dealing with the same subject and everything suddenly became amplified. Days continued to fly by, nearly a week and still no Aunt Flo. Brittany, or B as I call her, my 30-year-old wife of 1 and a half years and best friend of 10 more had been in a playful denial in the last 48 hours. While smiling she had been saying 'I usually feel like this before my cycle starts. It's nothing. Quit playing, I'm not pregnant!' But we both ultimately knew what was up.

As I got home from work that night, B surprised me with a pregnancy test she bought on her way home. I stood there speechless and eyes wide as she opened the box and turned to the bathroom. As a man you think of this scenario all the time. Is this really happening? Wait, so my No Limit Soldiers really do work?  I felt like I was standing there for 3 days. So, B did the hard part and quickly washed up and rushed out of the bathroom over to me. She looked up to me with her big beautiful brown eyes and said, Ok, you go look. I took a deep breath and went in after her to inspect the test. It appeared to be simple if you looked at the box; a solid blue ➕ sign and you were pregnant, a solid blue ➖ and you weren't. The minus was definitely there but the crossing vertical line was questionable. It was visible but very faint. What does that even mean? The box had a plus sign that appeared to be in a bolded font and ours looked like portions of it had been erased. Hesitant almost. I wanted a definitive answer, not some kinda-sorta type stuff. I grabbed the guide that came with the box and saw an image that looked EXACTLY like ours. It read in words that quickly translated in my head as It doesn't matter how strong that plus sign is; Yo, you're pregnant. I turned to look at my wife with my jaw dropped. She took another test minutes later for confirmation. Same result. We both laughed and nearly in unison we said Woooooow! We were having a child. We had a long hug, kissed and it was at that moment when I realized - as I assume most men do - that I don't know what the hell to do.

Earlier in the week when I noticed the possibility of this being for real, I scoured the Internet for baby books and guides geared towards the father's experience. I would consider myself to be great around kids. I have a nephew who is nearly 8 years old, with whom I hang with every time I go to visit back home. I also spent some time as a Site Director for a Boys & Girls Club. What I don't know much about is the pregnancy itself and its process. What goes on inside a woman's body? What is my role as a man and soon-to-be father? So my intention was that I'd buy several books, read them all and have some kind of knowledge going into this thing. I for one am glad I'm doing this in the era of new-age technology and am able to put all of these books on a tablet. I couldn't imagine having to lug them around like the men did back in the day. Much respect to you all!

In my search I found a few books but nothing really spoke to me, as a Black man with a Black wife. Not to say there is anything wrong with other races or the other books written by authors of a different shade - I still bought them - but as everyone knows there are things certain races have to be aware of genetically. For example, Fibroids. I haven't seen a book yet that can speak to what my particular expectations should/could be at this point as an African-American. Maybe there is one out there, but the books I purchased - 5 of the most popular on various sites and bookstores - were like a story about what that particular man went through. That's great, I guess that's ultimately what I wanted. But the issue I had was that they were mainly