Cuadro comparativo de rendimiento de cuchilla en mts. Lineales

prenatal education classes and in making the numerous baby preparations at home. Another prominent coping strategy was to prepare for the baby through making prearrangements with friends and family to help out their newly formed family during the recovery period, which gave the expectant fathers a sense of security and support. Four codes supported the theme of how prepared the men felt about being fathers: fear of the unknown, coping through education, coping through preparation, and coping through family support.

Fear of the unknown. Data from interviews and focus groups revealed that many

participants were afraid of the unknown aspects of pregnancy and the delivery. Expectant father 1 described his fear of the unknown as follows: “I don’t feel like I have it all figured out by any stretch, but I would say the fear of the unknown was the main thing, but getting educated on those fears made things easier” (personal communication, February 5, 2015). Expectant father 2

described similar fears,“ Well I think just the fear of the unknown, never been a dad before, and you see these things on the television with all the stress with kids, and will my relationship with my wife change, the most terrifying thing for me would be am I capable of being a good father”

(personal communication, February 7, 2015). Expectant father 4 described his fear during the pregnancy as the fear of uncertainty and stated, “ I would describe those fears as fears as fears of uncertainty, and inadequacy, the baby’s health, the wife’s, health, and things out of my control really bothered me” (personal communication, February 8, 2015). Expectant father 5 described both excitement and fear related to the unknown, “I have been a little nervous about things, but I am more excited than anything else, I don’t know what’s going to happen” (personal

communication, February 9, 2015). Expectant father 11 described his fear related to the unknown in terms of finances and work: “ My baby is breech right now, so I am worried about it, will I be able to take enough time off work” (personal communication, February 12, 2015).

Other participants discussed concerns about handling the delivery. Expectant father 3 stated “I do not do well with blood and surgery rooms” (personal communication, February 7, 2015). Expectant father 4 expressed his concern stating, “I do not know much about the medical science” (personal communication, February 8, 2015). Expectant father 6 stated “I’m not sure I can handle this, I want to support my wife, but I am concerned that the sight of blood will make me pass out” (personal communication, February 9, 2015). Expectant father 14 was concerned about things going wrong and stated “I do not want nurses making decisions if there is no doctor present” (personal communication, February 13, 2015).

Coping through education. Expectant fathers attended the BCND program, but also read books to develop new skills and knowledge of the childbirth process. In a focus group, one participant explained his reason for attending the seminar:

I think it’s just hands on experience, just trial and error, and I know that would be good for me, and I think that I love kids, and I have been around them, and I think in some cases we do have instincts, that in some cases are just as strong as the mom.

Another focus group participant shared his educational efforts by stating

I think at this point, I’ve got a lot of information out of the classes, I’ve got a lot of information out of the books, and things like that. I think the last piece would be the hands on experience in some way, practice, and just even like holding a child. I think at this point it’s just confidence building, and figuring out what the baby needs.

Another participant mentioned that he found educational resources online: “Youtube. There is nothing you cannot learn on the Internet, but it brings about every opinion in the world, though”

(personal communication, February 8, 2015). Other participants shared the need for classes specifically for fathers: “My wife knows about this mommy and me class, but I think if guys had a longer-term class that was structured it would be very good” (personal communication,

February 8, 2015). Another participant stated, “I think hands on type classes would really help us guys get a feel for things, I’m a, until-its-real-and-I-can-touch-it-kind of person, so these types of classes would be great” (personal communication, February 7, 2015).

One participant in focus group 2 stated:

You know in my point of view, I felt like I needed to read every book and take every class, we have taken fifteen classes, probably three or four of the classes had some overlap, but you needed to take the class before you took the class, but when it comes to it, intuition and instinct will be our best resource, so anything that helps to raise

awareness would be helpful.

The next participant stated:

As far as any education that comes to mind, I also have taken some other classes but my opinion for education that’s helpful would be classes that you actually get to talk to other dads, talk about their experiences, and what they have gone through, I guess as far as you becoming father and childbirth, talking to people who have been through it before and not just sitting in a class, but you need classes with parents with their babies, it is also important to talk to multiple people about these fathering topics.

Coping through preparation. In addition to education, several fathers discussed the need

to get prepared for the baby’s arrival home. One expectant father in a focus group discussed how the preparation process helped him to cope with his fears during the pregnancy and stated:

We had everything picked out, the house, the furniture, it was the opposite of

procrastination we over prepared, we had six months to go, and I wanted to make sure that the house and furniture and everything was installed, and we actually had the carpet cleaners come out to early because it became dirty again after six months that’s how I dealt with the fears.

Another focus group participant stated:

I think maybe I am a little bit of an over-preparer because I have been very anxious about getting everything ready, all the products that the baby needs, and just wanting to provide a safe environment for him. Like I said it’s a little stressful getting that all together. I also think that worrying about how it’s going to change my relationship with my wife kind of changed my approach. Soon it’s not going to be us two, but us three.

Another expectant father stated the following in an interview, “I guess an example of this would be that the fear has caused us to prepare, meaning we have taken every class, signing up for

consumer reports, signing up for every stroller, every binky report known to man” (personal communication, February 15, 2015).

Expectant father 2 stated, “The preparation part is very challenging, it feels so much more chaotic now.” He also expressed that all of the activities like the baby showers, and appointments on top of work and other responsibilities caused him to feel overwhelmed (personal

communication, February 7, 2015). Expectant father 4 explained that things were constantly evolving and stated, “It was difficult and seemed like a moving target” (personal communication, February 8, 2015). Expectant father 5 exclaimed, “All the preparations, doctor appointments, and getting the baby preparations done made time management difficult” (personal communication, February 9, 2015). Expectant father 6 did not think he had that many challenges but stated, getting ready for the baby is a bit challenging and overwhelming” (personal communication, February 9, 2015).

A focus group participant stated:

For me the coping mechanism or therapy has been getting stuff ready every weekend, it’s wax on wax off, I’m painting, doing moulding, doing the baby room and doing the nursery and all of that, to me it’s keeping me sane.

During the process of developing field notes the following words and phrases emerged from the data: preparation, education, procrastination, and family support. These words and phrases were written down during the interviews and focus groups as the dialogue progressed. These field notes served as a basis for the development of themes and helped in constructing meaning from the communication that took place.

Research Question Two

The second research question explored the participants perceive events that tended to trigger their fears during the pregnancy. The Kessler-6 revealed distress in the areas of

restlessness, nervousness, effortlessness, depression, worthlessness, and hopelessness in some of the participants which lends credibility to fear and apprehension being triggered in the

participants during the pregnancy. Five of the 14 participants had scores that fell into the moderate range of distress. Five of the participants had missed work or had a 50% reduction in their work capacity. The number of days missed or reduced in their capacity to work ranged from five to 12 days. After the interviews, focus groups, and Kessler-6 scale were analyzed, three inductions were made with regard to participants’ perceptions of events that lead to fears.

The primary induction made from the evidence was that changes in the relationship with the mother of the baby set the stage for fears to develop. Secondly, pregnant wives and

significant others experiencing mood changes tended to perpetuate relational fears. Lastly, encounters of perceived encroachment with the in-laws tended to trigger fears during the pregnancy in some of the participants. Therefore, one theme was derived to answer Research Question Two. Will I ever get my wife back? This was supported with codes of changes in relationship with wife, relationships with others, and physical changes in mom.

Will I ever get my wife back? One common thread that connected many of the