It's Not Me, It's My Hormones

All that talk about stretch marks yesterday reminded me of an article I read on Slate.com a few months ago. The article was called Stretch Marks for Dads.

Sorry if this is a repeat post. I feel like I have written about this before, but even so it is an interesting topic.

Apparently there have been some studies recently that prove being a father can change your brain along with your hormone activity.

From the Slate.com article:

"...evidence is accumulating that pregnancy and parenthood leave their marks on men's bodies. Women are not the only ones who are built for parenting, and recognizing that is good for fathers and the rest of us, too."

"A father's testosterone level also drops by about a third, on average, in the first three weeks after his child is born. These hormonal shifts... mirror those experienced by mothers and may similarly prepare men for parenthood. Men who have relatively little testosterone have been shown, for instance, to hold baby dolls longer than men who are flooded with the sex hormone."

One way to look at this study is to say that sympathy pregnancy weight is no longer a myth. Which would let me off the hook for all the weight I gained while my lovely wife was pregnant.

"See these stretch marks? I earned these stretch marks! I was eating for three after all!"

The truth is my weight gain was an issue long before my wife got pregnant. I can believe that becoming a dad added to my health problems but it is in no way the cause of them.

Also From the Article:

"After childbirth, the neurons in this region showed greater connectivity, suggesting that having young children could boost the part of the brain responsible for planning and memory, skills parents need when having kids gives them more to keep track of. The neurons also had more receptors for vasopressin, a hormone that has been shown to prompt animal fathers to bond with offspring."

The bigger thing I take a way from this article is an acknowledgment that the father is as biologically and emotionally tied to parenthood as the mother. This is not a message that gets much traction in our society.

For example:
While we were in the midst of Baby Shower craziness we received a cute gift bag that featured the alphabet and what each of the letters stood for. You know B is for Baby, M is for Mommy, P is for Pacifier. You would think D would stand for Daddy but no...D stood for diaper. Diaper!!! According to that bag Daddy is, at best, only the second most important D word in a babies life. This is the message we are giving our little ones? I don't think so!

In it's own twisted way I think the movie Knocked Up did a really good job of conveying the "Fathers Matter" message as well. Fathers are not just innocent bystanders we are important.

So thank you Judd Apatow and Swedish Research Scientist... Thank you for legitimizing my role as a father and for giving me an excuse to talk about my stretch marks with confidence!

The Slate article is a little dry but still worth the read for all you new fathers out there who are confused about the strange and unfamiliar changes your body is going through.

Stretch Marks for Dads [Slate]

Tony
10/17: 227.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
7.2 lbs. to go

p.s. Recipe Wednesday will return shortly