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Jonah Meyer, US Review of Books

Pareja’s unique book—a collection of letters from the expectant father to his unborn baby—is a beautiful expression of the love and anticipation the author experiences during the months that he and his wife are experiencing the arrival of their first child. Pareja writes about the daily goings-on of the future parents, and specifically their preparation for the child’s birth, as well as sharing with their future baby boy all of the changes and nuanced emotions both parents feel as they prepare for their child to enter the world. He writes with candor about the stages of fetal development the unborn baby is going through, the “miracle that nature” has given the couple, preparation of the nursery in their home, emotional ups and downs his wife experiences, frank descriptions of the bodily changes his wife is going through, and all of the movement and kicking around that the baby performs, especially as the delivery date nears.

While often it is the mother who may write pregnancy journals, this book is exceptional because it is completely written from the point-of-view of the father-to-be. One can empathize with the author’s excitement and concern for the health of the child as well as his absolute amazement with the miracle that is childbirth. He writes in an entirely accessible and plainspoken voice, rather like diary entries. In this sense, the reader cannot help but share in Pareja’s exhilaration. This is truly a tender book. It is joyful to imagine that one day in the future the child, when old enough to read on his own, will have a special keepsake in the form of a manuscript of what are essentially love letters from his father, all written while the child is in utero.

Online Book Club

A diary for an unborn child written by a man, a father-to-be, is not a book you can easily find around; you would rather find the ones written by pregnant women. Beloved Son, I am going to be your father, by Reynaldo Pareja, is a ninety-four-page book that contains twenty-six diary entries written by the author, the father-to-be. The diary entries are letters addressed to his unborn child. In this book, Reynaldo revealed how he felt when he first received confirmation that his wife was three months pregnant. He also revealed how the pregnancy has shaped their lives and decisions, especially his wife, who now must be cautious of many things. Reynaldo also revealed how they were preparing for his arrival.

Beloved Son, I am going to be your father was written in the first-person narrative, but the introduction was written in the third-person narrative. It is an emotional book, and the main emotion displayed is ‘love’. His love for his unborn child was evident in his writings. He wrote with excitement and passion, while in some other letters, I could feel his worry and anxiety.

I enjoyed reading Beloved Son, I am going to be your father, and besides the errors found, there is absolutely nothing I dislike about it. What I like the most about this book is the utter sincerity of the author. Reynaldo was very transparent in his writings. He freely expressed his thoughts and feelings in each of his letters; he wrote them as if he was talking directly to him, and he (unborn child) could hear him.

As a father, reading Beloved Son, I am going to be your father has helped me to better appreciate my wife and mothers generally. It is a great responsibility that has been bestowed on them to be the channel to bring to this world a newborn. I see it has a privilege and a burden at the same time. And I wish all men will learn from Reynaldo and give their wives the support needed to ease this burden.

Though this is not a religious book, reading it has also made me reacknowledge the greatness and awesomeness of God, our Creator. Scientists over the years have done a good job of trying to explain the processes involved in human reproduction: fertilization, conception, implantation, and so on. But I believe there is a limit to the existing knowledge. In my opinion, man cannot fully fathom the complexity of the multistage processes that take place during these nine months, neither can they decipher the minute daily developments. The development of a fetus is simply phenomenal. In addition, as Reynaldo mentioned in this book, every baby, right from the womb, is given his/her unique ‘ID’— fingerprint. And it is a fact that no two persons, young or old, dead or alive, have the same fingerprints, not even identical twins. This is ‘super extraordinary’; this is clearly God at work.

Expectant fathers are to grab and read this book immediately, as they have a lot to learn from it. Reading it will prepare them for challenges they are likely to face, while they will also learn how they can support their wives during this period. I strongly recommend this book to all men, especially those who desire to be a father or fathers that are desirous of having more kids. Pregnant women can also read it, so they can have an idea of what their husbands may be going through during this period.

Beloved Son, I am going to be your father seems not to be professionally edited, as I found many errors while reading it. These were mainly wrong capitalization of words like ‘life’, ‘love’, ‘heart’, and ‘angel’. Hence, I rate it three out of four stars. Finally, it has no erotic content, and no profane language was used.