It is an exciting time in our household as we are expecting our first child on December 1 - a Christmas baby, what is not to love.
Well it turns out there are actually quite a lot of things that are hard to love when pregnant, the constant back pain, swollen feet, hip pain, sickness, tiredness and discomfort when trying to sleep.
My fiancée has had by her own admission, a relatively straightforward pregnancy, but what has been especially problematic as we edge close to the due date is the difficulty in moving and the tiredness that comes with it.
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So being the loving and caring partner that I am, I decided to see if I could live just an hour in her shoes, trying to complete a variety of what I thought would be rather easy tasks.
There is a challenge that is doing the rounds on TikTok and Youtube called the ‘Pregnancy Watermelon Challenge.’
This entails getting a tube of cling film along with two yellow melons (these will be my breasts) and a watermelon for the belly (this will be my baby) - the idea is for male partners to experience how difficult it is to move around the house and even get out of bed.
The two melons weighed 3lb 2 and 3lb 1 respectively - whilst the watermelon I must admit was rather puny but it is December and we are not in watermelon season, this weighed 5lb 7.
My partner was kind enough to wrap the yellow melons to my chest and the watermelon to where my womb would be.
The first task that I had to attempt was funnily enough the first thing my partner started having difficult with as the baby grew - putting her shoes on to take the dog out.
Like a typical man I thought I could breeze through the challenge but I was met with much resistance across my midriff - the shoe felt as though it was a whole continent away from my hand.
I could only manage one bunny ear tie of the lace before having to come up with a fresh game plan for the second foot.
It may be obvious to all of you ladies out there that have carried a child but putting your foot up on your opposite knee to access the laces is a game changer.
The second thing was trying to get out from a pregnancy pillow and onto the floor by the side of the bed - easy peasy right? Wrong.
I squirmed around like a turtle stuck on its shell as I tried to roll myself out of the mattress - this took me longer than I would like to admit as my partner chuckled at my demise from behind the camera on her phone.
Next up was getting in and out of the bath.
A lot of woman find taking a bath soothing whilst pregnant and for the life of me I cannot think why - unless you have a sink to lean on or a cabinet, it is near impossible to get your leg over.
Once inside I was lulled into another false sense of security but I crashed back down to earth when trying to wiggle my little melons up from the depths of the tub.
Last but by no means least was attempting to put pots and pans away in the lowest cabinet in the kitchen.
By now I knew what I was getting in for and attempted the tactic of the squat and plunge to try to navigate the pots into their rightful place - this was the least challenging of the tasks thrust upon me but alas I managed it after an awkward minute or so.
All in all the entire challenge left me feeling rather thankful that my wife has the patience, power and mental strength to carry our child.
After just one hour I was a frustrated mess as I attempted to write this article with melons attached.
You can watch how I got on in the TikTok above.
Be thankful for your baby mummas!
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