If your man is also a little pregnant without any problems

When I crawl out of bed a bit sleepy after my spontaneous afternoon nap on Saturday, I notice that it is suspiciously quiet in the house. There isn't even any channel surfing on the television. And then something serious is going on.

I look and sure enough, my husband is snoring deeply. Completely in a coma on the couch. Not that it's a problem, of course, but he is happily joining in on the pregnancy. Not that he has two babies growing in his belly, but that's beside the point. He is just a bit expectant sometimes too. Eating healthy: he does that too. Drinking less alcohol: sometimes. Lots of naps and massages and lounging in bed and sleeping in without guilt: yes please.

Of course, it's not a problem at all. By the way, it does have an official name in psychology when it gets a bit out of hand with that ‘sympathy pregnancy’: the couvade syndrome. This means that men really feel as if they are pregnant. They also feel nauseous, have cravings, and also suffer from their hormones. Or they need to urinate more often, gain some weight, and have lower back pain. Nonsense, of course, but a man can empathize so much with his wife that he literally experiences what it is like to carry a child. It exists. Of course, we laugh about it, but what turns out? The mild form of this occurs quite often. A man then suffers from one of the pregnancy ailments that his wife is dealing with. In other words: that fatigue and sudden need for extra sleep, for example.

The reason behind this syndrome is actually quite sad: it comes from men feeling less valuable than their wives, precisely because they do not contribute to the pregnancy. They also want to empathize extra because they want to be seen in the house. They feel excluded from mother and child and draw more attention to themselves. Like: ‘Hey, I'm still here, I have back pain too, look at me.’

Well, it's not that bad at home yet. Just go ahead and take a nice afternoon nap, darling, because those tough sleepless nights are still to come. And another advantage of two: you will never feel excluded again, because we will both have our own boy on our lap.