Darby Saxbe

Yeah, it's super interesting.

Dads are contributing, obviously, like a lot of genetic material to pregnancy.

And dad's genes are actually shaping the construction of the placenta.

Which is like the organ that nurtures the baby.

And so, like, yeah, there's a lot that can go wrong on that end.

But also, like, I think when we talk about pregnancy health or anything that can go wrong, it's like it's always mom's fault, right, if something does.

But there's some evidence that even preconception health behaviors like men's substance use, smoking, exercise, diet will affect his sperm quality and therefore affect the baby's outcomes.

We never bug men about like, you should eat right for the baby.

Yeah, seriously.

But that's a thing that we should care about for dads as well.

Oh, the gender reveal party.

Yeah.

Such a funny fad to me.

I actually read that the woman who came up with them, like created the trend, has a non-binary kid.

I think it can be, but it doesn't necessarily have to be in the form of a biological father who lives in the household.

We know that child outcomes, kids who are raised by same-sex parents, turn out just as good, if not better, as kids with heterosexual parents.

So there's nothing about your parents' gender identity that is necessarily going to set you on the wrong course as a kid.

Yeah.

I interviewed a trans dad for the book who talked about just like stepping into the father role and what that was like for him.

In terms of like whether or not you need a man in a boy or girl's life, like I do think it's good to have models of, you know, good men and good women.