The Expectant Father. Armin A. Brott

      6 cloves garlic, minced

      1 generous pinch (¹/₈ teaspoon) red pepper flakes

      10 scallions, thinly sliced

      ¹/₂ cup creamy peanut butter

      6 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

      6 tablespoons soy sauce

      4 teaspoons white sugar

      1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced (optional)

      cilantro to taste (optional)

      Cook pasta according to directions on package. Drain and drizzle with the sesame oil. Set aside. Sauté garlic and pepper flakes in the peanut or safflower oil in a large frying pan. Add scallions. Turn heat to high and stir for one minute. Remove from heat. Add remaining ingredients and use a wire whisk to thoroughly mix into a thick sauce. Pour over pasta while sauce is still warm. Garnish with cucumber and/or cilantro, if desired.

      Garlic Roasted Chicken

      1 roasting chicken (3 to 4 pounds)

      5 garlic cloves

      1 carrot, sliced

      2 celery stalks, sliced

      4 small white onions

      2 teaspoons olive oil

      ¹/₂ cup white wine (optional)

      ¹/₄ cup water

      salt and pepper to taste

      Preheat oven to 450°F. Clean chicken and rinse thoroughly with water. Pat dry. Sprinkle inside and out with salt and pepper. Using fingers, make pockets under skin and stuff with garlic cloves. Place chicken in a deep baking dish. Stuff cavity of chicken with carrot and celery slices and onions. Drizzle olive oil on top of chicken. Pour wine and water over chicken. Bake chicken at 450°F for ten minutes to sear. Then reduce heat to 350°F and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced with a fork.

      Rack of Lamb

      A festive, delicious dish that is easy to prepare.

      ¹/₄ cup bread crumbs

      3 cloves garlic, crushed

      2 teaspoons parsley flakes

      salt and pepper to taste

      1 rack of lamb (ask the butcher to crack the rack, remove excess fat, and French-cut the ribs)

      5 teaspoons Dijon mustard

      Preheat oven to 450°F. In a small bowl, mix the bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, and salt and pepper. Place rack of lamb in a baking pan, meat side up. Spread mustard on top and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Using a fork, press the bread-crumb mixture into mustard, reduce heat to 350°F, and cook for about 20 more minutes, or until medium rare.

      Fruit Salad with Creamy Yogurt Dressing

      A refreshing, low-calorie dish for breakfast, lunch, or dessert. As a side dish or dessert, this recipe serves four. As a main course for lunch, it serves two.

      1 green apple, cored and diced

      1 banana, sliced

      juice of 1 lime

      1 small bunch of red or green seedless grapes

      5 strawberries, halved

      2 kiwis, peeled and sliced

      1 seedless navel orange (or other citrus fruit), sectioned

      1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt (or nonfat plain yogurt)

      1 teaspoon cinnamon

      ¹/₂ cup shredded coconut (optional)

      4–8 fresh mint leaves (optional)

      In a large mixing bowl, combine banana and apple, pour lime juice over them, and mix. Add remaining fruit and mix again. In a separate bowl combine yogurt and cinnamon. Just before serving, mix the yogurt dressing and coconut into the fruit. If fresh mint is available, garnish each serving with one or two leaves.

      The Doctor Will See You Now

      WHAT’S GOING ON WITH YOUR PARTNER

      Physically

      • Continuing fatigue

      • Continuing morning sickness

      • Frequent urination

      • Tingly fingers

      • Breast tenderness and darkening nipples

      Emotionally

      • Continued elation and at the same time some ambivalence about being pregnant

      • Inability to keep her mind on her work

      • Fear you won’t find her attractive anymore

      • Continuing moodiness

      • Fear of an early miscarriage, especially if you used ART

      WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THE BABY

      During this month, the baby will officially change from an embryo to a fetus. By the end of the month, he or she (it’s way too early to tell which by looking) will be about the size of an almond and will have stubby little arms (with wrists but no fingers yet), sealed-shut eyes on the side of the face, ears, and a tiny, beating heart (on the outside of the body). If you bumped into a six-foot-tall version of your baby in a dark alley, you’d run the other way.

      WHAT’S GOING ON WITH YOU

      The Struggle to Connect

      Just about every study that’s ever been done on the subject has shown that women generally connect with their pregnancies sooner than men do. Although they can’t feel the baby kicking inside them yet, the physical changes they’re experiencing make the pregnancy more real for them. For most men, however, pregnancy at two months is still a pretty abstract concept. For me—as excited as I was—the idea that we were really expecting was so hard to grasp that I actually forgot about it for several days at a time.

      Excitement vs. Fear

      But when I remembered we were about to become parents, I found myself in the midst of a real conflict—one that would plague me for months. On the one hand, I was still so elated that I could barely contain myself; I had visions of walking with my child on the beach, playing catch, reading, helping him or her with homework, and I wanted to stop strangers on the street and tell them I was going to be a father. On the other hand, I made a conscious effort to stifle my fantasies and excitement and to keep myself from getting attached to the idea. That way, if we had a miscarriage or something else went wrong, I wouldn’t be devastated.

      Dads who have been through a miscarriage on a previous pregnancy or done several unsuccessful ART cycles are especially susceptible to this kind of self-protective (and completely understandable) denial.

      Increased or Decreased Sexual Desire

      It was during the times when I let myself get excited about becoming a father that I noticed that my wife’s and my sex life was changing. Perhaps it was because I was still reveling in the recent confirmation of my masculinity, or perhaps it was because I felt a newer, closer connection to my wife. It may even have been the sense of freedom resulting from not having to worry about birth control. Whatever the reason, sex in the early months of the pregnancy became wilder and more passionate than before. But not all men experience an increase in sexual desire during pregnancy. Some are turned off by their partner’s changing figure; others are afraid of hurting the baby (a nearly impossible task at this stage of the game). Still others may feel that there’s no sense in having sex now that they’re pregnant.

      Whatever your feelings—about sex or anything