Rascal Flatts' bass player Jay DeMarcus is heading into the home stretch with his wife, Allison, preparing the nursery as they await the birth of their first child in January 2011. And Jay confesses, he's so nervous about being a first time dad, he's literally down on his knees!

"My preparations are doing as much praying as I can -- really, literally," he tells GAC. "I'm nervous about it, because until you get a baby of your own, you can always give everybody else's back to them. So to actually have something I'm responsible for ... I just want to make sure I will do the best job I can.

"And I'm sure I'll make mistakes," Jay hastens to add. "We've spent a lot of time reading books and watching videos and a

lot of online research -- and watching [Gary LeVox and Joe Don Rooney] figuring out what not to do!"

As for the reality of fatherhood, it seems Jay's bandmates, Gary and Joe Don, have been sharing freely with their buddy.

"I don't take my advice about being a father from these two!" Jay tells The Boot with a laugh. "All Gary can muster is, 'Hold on tight -- it's gonna be a wild ride!'"

Joe Don -- whose second child, Raquel Blue, was born in September -- gave Jay a book, detailing all the stages Mom, Dad and baby go through during the nine months of pregnancy.

"Yeah, that was very sweet," Jay reflects.

"It's a great book called, 'The Expectant Father,'" Joe Don points out. "It's nine chapters, and breaks down what it's like for what you're going through as a first time father, what you're wife's probably going through being a first time mother ... and what the baby's going through."

"It really is great," says Jay. "He wrote me a sweet note on the inside cover. And he's never been nice to me at all before today!"

"You're finally having a baby -- I gotta be nice to you," Joe Don jokes.

In the meantime, the band will be in Las Vegas, co-hosting the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony with comedian Frank Caliendo at The Wynn on December 3. The ceremony, which honors the top 10 drivers for their 2010 accomplishments, will be broadcast live on Speed Channel at 9:00 PM ET.

Rascal Flatts' new album, 'Nothing Like This,' debuted at No. 1 on Billboard in November. It is their first project for Big Machine Records.

%VIRTUAL-globalVideoEmbed-{"videoIds":"517721460","width":"476","height":"357"}%

More From TheBoot