What to do when you have a baby and your relationship turns toxic

This is a chapter from my upcoming book “The Clueless Father’s Parenting Survival Guide.”

It’s also one of the longest chapters in the book. Sorry about that. But if I could spend an hour of reading and hopefully spare my child years of pain, I’d consider it a good trade.

I’d say probably about 15% of the book deals with preparing your relationship for having children and also things you can do to rescue the relationship if you weren’t prepared for what children would do to it.

Hope you find it helpful.

Awesome B-Complex Liquid Supplement

I don’t know about most people, but I get a very bad reaction to B-Complex. I know it’s a vitamin we are all supposed to take, but my reactions often made me avoid it.

I didn’t know until recently that a lot of b-complex formulas actually have cyanide in them. If you think I’m kidding just do a search on cyanide and b-complex and it’ll pop right up.

Well that’s terrifying right? You want the b-complex that’s made from Methylcobalamin. (I know right? Say that five times fast!) What’s funny is that this actually made sense as I’ve always gotten nauseous before when taking b-complex vitamins and although it’s vital, I often would shy away from it. My wife had the same experience.

So after trying various other brands, we finally settled on Complementary Prescriptions – Methylcobalamin. It’s cinnamon flavored which is great and it’s sub-lingual so it goes right in the mouth for thirty seconds under the tongue and all done. Good stuff. I get a great energy boost every time and it keeps me peppy even when the day is dragging.

Anti-Stress Supplements that Work

I get easily stressed. I work 6-7 days a week and generally about 14 hours a day. We never seem to have enough money or time. The kids, as adorable as they are, can get on the nerves and generally I can be on edge more often than not. But this isn’t good for my health and the doc told me I need to figure out a way to reduce stress levels and get better sleep at night.

After a bunch of searching I found another Natural Vitality product that really helped. It also helped as an after exercise muscle soother which prevented me from being severely sore the next day.

It’s called Natural Calm Raspberry Lemon and is a great supplement that you can mix in hot water and drink like a tea. They have a variety of flavors and packet sizes. I suggest starting with smaller doses and working your way up as I have found taking too much can upset the stomach. Anyways their instructions are pretty clear. Hope it helps.

Month 9 Pregnancy Scares

My wife is in week 38-9 of the pregnancy at the moment and boy the false alarms can be fun. Two nights ago she thought she was going into labor and had this weird sensation that her water broke. Fortunately neither of those turned out to be true. However it reminded me that it’s time to have the hospital suitcase fully packed with everything and ready to go including:

For Mom:

1. Two days of clothes for mom (pajama type stuff)

2. Nice comfy robe for mom.

3. Sandals/slippers

4. Hygiene supplies including extra absorption maxi-pads (because there is a lot of bleeding happening after the delivery)

5. A nice wrap-around polar fleece throw (because hospital sheets and blankets aren’t always that great).

Legal Documents: (In our hospital you can get the official birth certificate instead of the temp one, right at the hospital for an additional $50 – so worth it)

1. our marriage certificate (US and Mexican),

2. our birth certificates,

3. My passport and migratory document – and because I am a foreigner here in Mexico City, all these documents have to the US governmental validation called an apostille not to be confused with an apostle.

4. My wife’s ID.

For baby:

1. Receiving blankets

2. newborn diapers

3. 4 diaper suits/body wraps

5. 4 pairs baby mittens

6. one or two large receiving blankets.

7. one or two smaller receiving blankets

8. 4 pairs of socks.

9. 4 shirts

And of course anything else the hospital asks you to bring.

We have everything in the house set-up so now it’s just a matter of days and staying cool calm and collected…as if that were even possible!