Author Chris Atkin chronicles journey through pregnancy in Fertilisation to Fatherhood: The Pregnancy Diary of a First-Time Dad

Many men go through a wide range of emotions when their wife announces that she’s pregnant, but Cambridge-based author and journalist Chris Atkin decided to go one step further and document his experiences over the following nine months in the form of a diary.

Titled Fertilisation to Fatherhood: The Pregnancy Diary of a First-Time Dad, the book – the author’s third – is an honest and humorous account of the months leading up to the birth of his child earlier this year and the unexpected challenges along the way.

Chris says: “Pretty much as soon as we found out that Sarah, my wife, was pregnant I was looking at books and things and you realise that there’s not actually that many books targeted towards dads, in terms of supporting your partner through the nine months of pregnancy.

“There are a few but they’re slightly condescending and a little bit patronising; they’re all speaking strange languages, or everything’s a euphemism, as if you need to be spoken to in a really simple way, or they’re quite dry, and that’s why I wrote mine as a diary – and as far as I’m aware there’s not a similar book…

“Obviously every pregnancy and the experience they’ll have is different for everyone, but it was a case of trying to get what is happening to me, and hopefully that is relatively relatable and people can go, ‘Oh yes, that’s the kind of thing I should be expecting at this point’.

“I wanted it to be funny and interesting, but also the most important thing was honest, in terms of the difficulties, the challenges, the stresses, the worries, but I wanted it to be informative as well because no one wants to just read about my day-to-day existence!”

On whether he found the pregnancy a particularly challenging and stressful time, Chris, who previously worked for Sky News and BT Sport – he has also had articles published in The Times, The Huffington Post and Time Out – says: “My nature’s probably something of a worrier, and therefore initially you have a stage when you’re there going, ‘Oh, I hope everything’s okay, when we go for the 12-week scan then we’ll feel much better because the doctors will have been able to have a look and tell us everything’s okay’.

“And then you think, ‘Oh, actually no, at the 20-week scan it will be much better because we can find out much more then’, and especially when you’ve got friends who are a few weeks, or a few months, ahead of you and they’ve gone through that and they’ve got the reassurance now that hopefully the baby’s safe and everything, but you realise that actually you don’t get to stop worrying – even when the birth happens and hopefully everything’s fine.

“This worry will continue now because I’m always going to be there being like, ‘Oh, I hope they’re okay’ basically for the rest of my life!”

A particularly difficult moment during the pregnancy came when Sarah fell off her bike. “She obviously gets worried and then you feel worried,” notes Chris, “and you don’t really know what’s happening inside, and so you’re there just hoping and waiting – and the birth itself is obviously stressful.

“I think everyone will experience it differently but I think it’s natural to be more anxious than you probably would be otherwise.”

What would Chris, who also works as a copywriter and digital marketer, say to more cynical female readers who believe that the role of the man during pregnancy is very minimal to say the least?

“I anticipate there may be that reaction,” he replies. “In the preface, I talk about how on the face of it women are doing all the hard work – and that is definitely true – however, there are a lot of men who are conscientious and want to help and sometimes they just don’t know how to.

“They want to understand what’s going on so they have some comprehension, but I put it in the way that you’re almost like a boxing trainer in your wife’s corner – not in the way of ‘I know all about pregnancy, I’ll tell you what to do’ but as in you’re there not doing the fighting, you’re not doing the pregnancy, but what you are saying and what you are doing does make a difference to what is happening in the ring.

“A hundred per cent men have an important role, but that’s certainly not diminishing the role of the woman – they are definitely putting in the hard work.”

The book has received positive reviews so far, including from the Bump and Baby Club antenatal classes in Cambridge.

The author’s previous books are Escape to California: Misadventures in America’s Golden State and (Just As Well) It’s Not About The Bike: A Journey Across Southern Spain.

Fertilisation to Fatherhood: The Pregnancy Diary of a First-Time Dad is available now on Amazon, priced £6.99, as well as in Waterstones, Foyles, etc.

For more information, visit bit.ly/47BgXau. For more on Chris, go to chrisatkinonline.com.