Was not quite what I expected, in phase 1. A few friends I had spoken to in London intimated that many Dads-to-be slacked substantially in the NCT classes, leaving the mums to make friends and the babies ultimately to socialise. Whilst I had no intention of doing that, I wasn’t quite prepared for what we experienced.

For us, the first class was a welcoming experience. All the dads were incredibly engaged, even those trying very hard to look blas̩ and cool about the whole thing (yes, well, maybe this includes me). The excitement of the life change had taken over us all. A Haynes manual for a baby was lying around and we discussed what spanner rating changing a baby would be, traded pram choices and rationales and tips on how to get Mothercare to pricematch any online store (they do, if you take a printout apparently Рamazing!).

We’d all experienced the same kindness of friends and family that had resulted, broadly speaking, in free stuff and other offers of advice and support. And we were all glad of a room full of people that shared the same hopes, fears and discomfort.

Interestingly, as we were doing the course in our new domain of Basingstoke, half the men in the room had some kind of tech-related job. Thoughts that I was moving to the Silicon Valley of Southeast England were dismissed, though, when I also came to realise that they all, like me, commute into London!

Really good on a number of fronts. Tomorrow I return for the breastfeeding course (!), before the final full day session in a week and a half or so.

In other news, Ricky Bobby is now a dad! To the lovely Megan! And tomorrow, we become homeowners, a month and a week before Hippo is due to join us!!!

It’s all getting incredibly real!