During pregnancy it can often seem like all the energy and attention is on your wife, after all she is the one carrying the baby and people notice that. However, dads play a very important role during pregnancy; they are there to support their wives and on a path to becoming a dad.

Pregnancy can be difficult, exhausting, and joyous all at the same time. For moms-to-be having the dad-to-be there going through the good spots and the rough spots with her can make all the difference. Mom maybe carrying the baby but you are going through this together. So what can you do to help share in the pregnancy and make sure your wife knows just how much you care.

Well, here are a few tips on how dads can share in the pregnancy.

• Probably one of the most important things and easiest things you can do is just pay attention. Talk about your wife’s growing belly and what that means to you, be an active participant in doctor’s visits, acknowledge your wife’s aches and pains. Anything you can think of to show your wife that you are paying attention, you see the changes, feel the changes, and want to be a part of it all.

• Go to the prenatal visits with your wife. If you work schedule allows you to, be sure to go along on all the visits. You will learn a lot, and you may have questions about the pregnancy that your wife doesn’t think to ask. (brownie point tip: don’t wait to be asked to go along, volunteer).

• Your wife is going to need to make some changes to her diet and activity level during pregnancy, especially if a healthy diet and exercise program weren’t part of the picture before. Try to make some changes with her, if she can’t eat a hamburger and fries, don’t eat them in front of her, and better yet, don’t eat them at all. This can be a great way for both of you to get healthier.

• Take the time to tell her that she is beautiful. A pregnant women who feels like she is too fat, not pretty, and no one notices anything except her growing belly will greatly appreciate being told she is beautiful.

• Take an active role in planning and shopping for the child’s nursery. Shopping might not be your favorite thing to do but it will give the two of you a chance to do something for the baby together.

• Be an active participant in the labor planning, and the labor itself. If you wife wants to go to birthing classes such as Lamaze, go with her. Talk about the fears you might have about the delivery with your wife (she has some too!). Figure out what your role in the delivery room will be and prepare for it.

There are many things you can do to share in the pregnancy with your wife, but the most important thing you can do is just be there, take an active role, and enjoy this time. Your wife is going through some major changes physically and emotionally, but so are you. Talk to her about what you are feeling, what you see changing in her, and what having a baby means to you. There are some great books out there for dads-to-be, pick one up, you will likely learn a whole lot about pregnancy and fatherhood that you had no idea about it.

If you are already a father, what things did you do when your wife was pregnant? How did you share in the pregnancy?