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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Practical and humorous., June 7, 2009
This review is from: DadLabs (TM) Guide to Fatherhood (Paperback)
DadLabs: Pregnancy and Year One
The DadLabs Guide to Fatherhood is brought to you by the same quartet of dads that produce the excellent DadLabs - Taking Back Paternity video podcast, featuring such regular segments as Gear Daddy, Daditude, and Hot Dad Action. Now the four fathers of DadLabs - with nine children between them - have set their sights on sharing advice with other fathers on the joys and perils of pregnancy and year one of a baby's life.
They begin at the beginning, with trying to conceive a baby, including Old Wives' Top Hot Sex Tips for having a boy or a girl. Then they move on to A Guy's Guide to Gynecology and surviving the rollercoaster of pregnancy while preparing for the baby. Finally, it's time for the delivery and the best ways to support your wife, not to mention Taking Care of Dad. Next comes a game plan for the first 48 hours after birth, and negotiating your way through the postpartum period including how to start having sex again with your wife. Pregnancy and Year One ends with managing your way through colic, sleep deprivation, and your baby's first developmental milestones. The DadLabs dads seamlessly mix the expected practical advice (how to properly swaddle a baby) with unexpected practical advice (making nice with your wife's labor and delivery nurse) and totally obscure practical advice ("Babies love ceiling fans!"). All of it is delivered with the Dadlabs signature brand of dry humor, making it enjoyable to even read about such topics as how far a cervix has to dilate to pass the baby. The book addresses not only practical topics but also emotional issues, especially when it comes to a dad's relationship with his wife. It guides dads not only through the mechanics of being an expectant or new father, but also through the social requirements as well.
Throughout, the DadLab dads emphasize the great joys and significance of engaged fatherhood, even when the process of birth and raising an infant is at its most challenging:
Maybe guys just figured out that being shown the door when it comes to pregnancy, labor and delivery, and raising the kids was a bad deal. That men should have equal access to the experiences and relationships everyone knows are the most important in life. How much do you really like your boss? Is more time with him or her really that important?
The Guide to Fatherhood is a book by dads, for dads. Reading it feels like getting encouragement and advice from a trusted buddy and fellow father that you can turn to for advice. It's a great gift for any expectant father that will let him know he's not alone out there, and encourage him to be the best dad that he can be.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Making the mistakes so you don't have to, July 2, 2009
This review is from: DadLabs (TM) Guide to Fatherhood (Paperback)
As a new father ten years ago I underestimated a number of finer points involved in the pregnancy and birth of a child: I had a habit of putting diapers on backwards (diaper dyslexia), my second son required forceps in order to be pulled out of his mother (She's four-foot something, and I almost threw up seeing those things jammed way up in her.), and I went to the wrong entrance at the hospital when number three came along. (The main entry was closed for repairs, and momma delivered fifteen minutes after getting into bed. Whew!) My point being, I would've been a prime candidate for the book DadLabs: Guide to Fatherhood.
Sure there were hundreds of other titles out their like the What to Expect series, but they contained a laborious (pun unintended) amount of information and were geared to mothers. (Every time it said "you" in conjunction with body secretions I became squeamish.) DadLabs is quite the opposite in this respect. Written by four fathers, Clay Nichols, Brad Powell, Troy Lanier and Owen Egerton, the book gets right to the point and targets men as the primary audience. It's all about pregnancy and babies for a real man's man complete with beer, cussing and humor - lots of humor. (My personal favorites were the "Dad Rants.")
Even though DadLabs is formatted in a guy-friendly package with short paragraphs, diagrams and bullet points, it does not gloss over subject matter. The content thoroughly covers everything involved in the birth of a child from the pregnancy test to the baby's developmental milestones over the first year. And don't misinterpret the book's slapstick approach; these dads were not afraid to tackle sobering issues like medical complications and post-partum depression. Significant others will appreciate that the writers also educated men as to the mother's feelings through the entire process. (That one of the guys suited up as "Prego-man" wearing an empathy belly and drinking Ipecac for twenty-four hours speaks volumes.)
The mantra for DadLabs is, "We screwed up so you don't have to," and they continue to educate fathers on their website DadLabs.com where they share additional tips through articles and videos. But one of the best things about both the book and their site pertains to their timeliness. I may have burped my three boys after feedings and rocked them to sleep, but I still fell into the Dad 1.0 category - involved yet clueless. Today, however, fathers are even more active in child-care duties, especially those who, for one reason or another, are stay-at-home dads. In this context, DadLabs is perfect in upgrading these fathers to the Dad 2.0 level.
DadLabs is a fun read. It made me laugh; it made me think, and it made me wonder how I didn't injure or maim my own children as a young father.
Clark Kent's Lunchbox
http://clarkkentslunchbox.blogspot.com/
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book!, August 19, 2009
This review is from: DadLabs (TM) Guide to Fatherhood (Paperback)
I read both this one and What to expect when your wife is expanding, and while they had similar info, this one had moe extra little tidbits, and, in my opinion, funnier comedy. As a first time dad and developmental psychologist, I found this book to be accurate and informative, but funny enough and short enough to keep me reading.
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