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3rd Trimester
Husband is deploying 2 weeks before due date!?
My husband will be deploying to Qatar with the USAF 2 weeks before our daughter is due and returning 6 months later. I'm wondering if anyone out there has been in that situation before and has any creative bonding ideas for daddy and baby? Are there some good books that he can record on a DVD so our baby can see and hear him? Any creative ideas will be SO appreciated 
Thanks
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Re: Husband is deploying 2 weeks before due date!?
Um... Build a bear maybe... I've never been there but I'm told you can record sounds and put it in the bears. You could get baby a bear with daddy's voice and then once LO is born...send him one with some of baby's sounds?
Best idea I've got.
Oh and I just spoke to my husband (who is a PR specialist for the Army) and he said he's actually covered stories on this...and its something that is done normally by family readiness groups..
I would get a recordable story book and have him read it/record it so that even when you can't skype/call she can hear his voice.
Also, have him send home an unwashed shirt every now and then (not a stinky smelly sweaty one obviously)! And use it as a swaddle blanket
I agree with this wholeheartedly. My friend is deployed right now and that's how he gets to see his growing baby girl. I bet, if you wanted, you could even Skype in the birthing room or where ever you do give birth, except if its an Emergency C-section.
If you know anyone who is crafty you could get them to make her a blanket from some of his old shirts (even clean they should still smell like him). There are a ton of pattern/ideas for quilts or t-shirt blankets on pinterest.
There is also this company:
https://www.daddydolls.com/categories
Last, Hallmark has the recordable version of "On the night you were born". This is one of my absolute favorites. I challenge you to get though the book without getting teary.
That's really hard. =/ My SIL's husband was deployed for his first son's birth, but I don't remember how they worked around it. I know he took his R&R soon after delivery, but he was Army.
If my husband were deployed for the birth, I would definitely record the baby as much as I could. A recordable story book is nice for the baby to hear daddy's voice. Skype is a great idea as well. For a care package, I would include pictures and everything, of course, but also baby items. I'm a FTM but that baby smell is unlike anything else and I would hate for DH to miss it. So maybe send a onesie or something of the size that the baby is or something that the baby has worn.
Yes! Skype is awesome! My DH was deployed while we were engaged and planning our wedding and skype was a lifesaver for us. Big hugs to you and your DH for what you are going through. It was hard enough for us when he was deployed and we weren't married or had kids yet. I can't imagine him deploying now that we are starting a family.
I had the reverse situation, and my husband ended up coming home before our daughter was born. So, I was preparing that he might not be there for the birth. My hospital actually has a program set up that is like skype, and connects the dad with the birth in the hospital. I'm in a military town, so this is common for them to do. Check with your hospital, they might have something like that.
Otherwise, I have a friend whose husband was not able to access the internet, and the wife actually videotaped the entire labor. She just set up a covert camera behind her, and recorded everything. She planned to have her husband watch all 9 hours when he got home, and that he would only be allowed to eat ice chips while watching.