Learning from Adversity.

When I was having my abdomen assaulted by ultrasound last week I asked the technician: ‘Is its heartbeat OK?’ A paltry joke maybe, but pregnancy is what we most associate with examination by ultrasound.

Something occurred to me walking back to the car later, something I’d obviously realised a long time ago (and even written a blog post about) but which had never really sunk in: just how much more profound a concept motherhood is than fatherhood.

After the initial contribution the father does nothing; the mother does it all. She goes through nine months of getting fatter, heavier and wearier while the miracle of a new life unfolds within the confines of a body which was once exclusive to her. She exposes herself to what can be substantial health risks and submits to the processes designed to minimise them. At the end of it she has to suffer the pain of having a large square peg pushed through a small round hole of limited tolerance. And then she is the first to bond with the new little human she has been guarding from the outside world for thirty eight weeks.

How can fatherhood compare with that, no matter how assiduous his support throughout the process?