To Push the Push Present

I had never heard of a push present until about four years ago, when a friend of mine from Long Island told me about the concept.  Essentially, a new dad presents his wife with a sizable gift when the baby is born.  It is a token of thanks for the child, for carrying the baby, and for going through the pain of labor.

I thought maybe this was just an east coast thing, but in fact, it has fully migrated over to midwest.  My close friend got diamond stud earrings.  Another got a beautiful necklace.  I had one friend that was less than subtle about making her wants for a push present known.  She actually sent him a link to Tiffany's with two things she would want- either a necklace with the baby's first name initial or a locket to put his picture in.

Not only did she send him the links and harshly remind him, she even had me remind him, which I couched with, "I am only saying something for your own good, she will be pissed if you don't do it." Her thought was he never makes an effort for birthdays or anniversaries, he just never put energy into doing something nice for her.

Well delivery at 41 weeks came and went and there was no push present and she was in fact pissed.

Personally, I don't care about a push present, the baby is present enough.  However, I did tell my husband for my push present, I want a large diet coke with 4 lemon wedges pre-squeezed into my savory drink.  Ideally, I do want one of those beer helmets where I can put in two diet cokes (lemoned of course) and have the straws feed directly into my mouth.  That would be the most thoughtful gift of all.