When it comes to pregnancy, the woman does all the work.

There. I said it.

It’s not like I don’t have experience. I have two children, ages 10 and 13. I was a personal witness to the trials of pregnancy, the happiness, joy, the pain, and the pushing. My wife was valiant for the 9 months of pregnancy and both deliveries.

Fast forward to 2011. As a creative director, the task to create a commercial for Wheaton Franciscan – St. Joseph came across my desk. St. Joseph is an institution in Milwaukee, especially when it comes to labor and delivery. Its long history of neonatal care has earned it the title “The Baby Hospital.” For expectant Moms with a high-risk pregnancy, it’s one of the safest places to have a baby.

It makes you all fuzzy inside.

But back to the creative brief. How can we tell people about The Baby Hospital from a new angle, yet still get our point across and keep the tone emotional? The universe of health care advertising is loaded with testimonials, doctors and shots of technology and patient rooms. We have to try something different.

It occurred to us that one point of view that hasn’t been explored is one of the Dad’s, the understanding, tough, squeamish, not-so-innocent bystander. He’s just as much responsible for the pregnancy as the Mom, right? I thought of my own experiences, and the things that were important to me, and they really were many of the same things as my wife. Yet, my attitude towards those things were slightly different. Slightly, um,  … male.

So we wrote scripts and had the Dads be real. I used my own experiences and the experiences of the people I talked to. And we were able to sell The Baby Hospital in a very natural way. And kudos to our client for having the courage to take the journey with us.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a 13 yr. old who needs help with her math homework.