Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

Two kids, the first regular delivery, second was c-section. Both types of delivery are interesting in their own ways.

The good c-section story: I was in the operating room behind the curtain talking to my wife (curtain on midsection so wife cannot see herself being cut open). Her doctor, the one cutting her open, is talking to her assistant about where she is going that evening. She is going to her 3 year old daughter's friend's birthday party at Chucky Cheese.

This started a 3 way debate between me, the doctor and her assistant about which is better, Mr. Cheese or Peter Piper Pizza. We all agreed on PPP because they serve beer. My wife's reaction to this coversation was one of complete beliderment.

The conversation ended when daughter #2 appeared and I got a great sight of things that should not be decribed. Good times.

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

Awesome thread! Thanks DB for starting it...

have 2nd due in Late July / Early August.

First was a scheduled C-section. Little girl was in the breach position and never turned over. Sonogram pics show her using the placenta as a pillow. Apparently she just got comfy and didn't want to move.

It was a bit surreal to have a scheduled delivery. We got up, went to the hospital and 4 hours later we had a baby.

The delivery was smooth. Things I vividly remember :
Took my wife into surgery and I waited in a hallway just outside the OR while they prepped her. I was all alone and I remember just praying - for my wife, for my daughter, for wisdom as a dad.

Anaesthesiologist had a crossword at his station and I heard him working on it.

Delivery room nurse saying "she's going to be tall, look how long her fingers/toes are" and me thinking "come on, you can't tell that." (she's 95th percentile height for her age - I guess you can tell that)

My bonding was the next day : my wife did a lot of sleeping to recover from the surgery. So I held my daughter, changed her diapers, sang to her (poor thing). I vividly recall sitting with her tucked up in my arms, watching the first Sunday's games of the 2004 NFL season.

excited to meet #2!

~FishNChips

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

My ability to remember details long term is virtually non existent, so to try to describe the day my son was born is impossible. I bonded with my son fairly quickly, but I was not ready to be a father, even at 32. I had very little patience at it, and my son was very colicly (sp?), and I spent many a night up at 3am walking around a screaming baby trying to comfort him, wondering what the hell I was doing in this position. My wife worked a normal 9-5, but I owned my own retail store, so could modify my hours as needed, which meant I was the one who ended up taking the baby late at night because I could sleep later. I definitely loved my baby, but I'm pretty sure I hated him at the same time when I was on another four day sprint of virtually no sleep while he puked everywhere again (he had really bad acid reflux early on).

When he hit about two, and I could really interact with him, the bonding became rediculously intense, and I can't imagine life without him now that he is four and we can actually converse beyond two word sentences and do things together. I just started teaching him how to dribble a soccer ball and basketball, and he already has tried tee ball, and is in swimming class. I think he's going to be a big sports kid. I wasn't but, he's his own (very little) man, and can go whichever way in life he wants. He's kind of whiny though, and I haven't figured out if that's just the age, or if there's a way to help him learn to approach things better that he doesn't like.

Contrastly, my daughter and I are still having problems. She turns three next weekend, and I still don't feel like I have bonded well with her. We talk, I love her a lot, but she is very frustrating because she is a very defiant little girl (my son was nowhere near as bad), and since I am the disciplinary force in the household, she has a huge perference for her mommy over me, because I am perceived as the bad guy.

We (my wife and I) have moved pretty far in trying to fix that impression, but it's still there, and we have good and bad days. Its not a joyous thought to think that I love one more than the other, but emotionally, its much easier to deal with my son than my daughter. But they're both very young, and I am more than willing to put in the work long term to make our entire family as close at it can be. My wife thinks I need more one on one time with her, but I think I don't have a lot of one on one time with my son, so I don't want to suddenly start spending time only with her. I think I just need to quality time with both of them, and make her see that I love her just as much as her brother, and I find them both to be wonderful and special (little) people.

Wow, uh, yeah, guess I felt like sharing today or something.

Ray

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

My wife must have been about 3 months pregnant when she started running a high fever so we went to the hospital and they ran some tests and decided they needed to run an ultrasound to check on the baby. For some reason the person who administers the thing couldn't say anything about what she did or didn't find.

I just remember waiting in the room for the doctor to come in and being amazed how I could love and care for someone so much that was not even born yet. Everything was fine and I have never felt such relief.

September 11, 2001:
We were in the waiting room for our first real ultrasound appointment watching CNN. Both of the towers were still standing, but you could see people jumping out of the smoking buildings.

They called us back and we saw the grainy display of the heart beat and found out that she was going to be a girl. While others look back on what was, collectively, the worst day in the history of our country I remember the undescribable joy that I felt when I saw her beating heart. She has continued to have the ability to make bad days better for me ever since.

February 24, 2002:
My wife wasn't due for another two weeks, but she was getting (more) pissed (than usual) and wanted to get out of the house. The PGA golf tournament was in town so we walked the front nine there, went to Chili's for molten chocolate cake, and went home to watch the end of closing cermonies of the Olympics.

February 25, 2002:
I was supposed to go to work at 5:00 AM, but my wife woke me up at 3:30 thinking she was having contractions. I timed them for awhile and she decided she needed to go to the hospital. On the way over, she realized she hadn't bought any of the things that she was supposed to (robe, slippers, etc.) so we stopped at Wal-Mart. We get all the things we are supposed to and go to check out. Some guy is buying golf clubs at 4:30 in the morning and they can't find the price so we wait behind him for about ten minutes.

We get to the hospital and they check my wife out. They decide that nothing is going to happen for 24-48 hours and send us home. My wife swears that it is happening now, but they tell use to go home. We get home by about 7:00. We go back to sleep, but my wife has me timing the contractions so I am literally, sleeping in 10 minute intervals. It gets down to 5-8 minutes so we head back to the hospital.

It is indeed happening. I sleep on and off through the rest of the morning. I call her friends because she was supposed to have a baby shower that night. The guy who gives the epederal is my new best friend.

About 2:00 in the afternoon the head starts to come out so they rush to find the doctor. He makes it in in time. He asked me if I wanted to cut the cord, and I told him that was what I paid him for. He made me do it anyway.

When she was out they handed her to me and I remember saying, "Hello Kianna, I'm your daddy. It's nice to meet you."

I remember being torn between paying attention to my wife who kept telling me to go check on the baby. I took a bunch of digital pictures to post on the internet for family and friends, including a nice one of my wife's junk that I didn't realize was my wife's junk until it had been up for a few hours.

My wife specifically said that she didn't want anyone else there and no video cameras, so of course, my aunt and uncle show up univited with a video camera.

I just remember being wiped out by the whole thing and just wanting to sleep. I didn't buy flowers for my wife, which I have since learned is important. And I was scared to death of the little kid. I was just sure I was going to break her somehow.

THE END

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

I can remeber mine. WE had just closed on a house with the baby 3 weeks away. My wife goes to her doctor's appointment when it is decided that because of her high blood pressure and gestational diabetes that they are going to induce the baby early. Since I am unavailable, they decide to ambulance her to the hospital. When I get home there is a message that she is in the hospital and will be induuced in the morning. I give her a call and we decide that before I come see her that I must go buy a criba and other baby furniture and set up the nursury sop that is what I do (taking time out to watch the eighth inning of Ken Burn's baseball documentary because I have yet to miss an episode). Worked all night and got the nursurty set up.


After a short nap, I go to the hospital. They are just about ready to give my wife the inducing med and break her water. We go throgh the labor stuff and because of the hifgh blood pressure they will not let her do all this avant gaurde birthing technique business that she learned. They made her stay on her back and wait.

Later that afternoon her entire family arrived and they all wanted to be in the room for the delivery. Finally we decided that her sister could come in but, at my wife's insistence, I kept the others out.

Anyway, we progress into early ebvening and the ninth inning of Ken Burns baseball documentary is just about to come on when the baby decides he would like to watch. Long story short I missed the last show and I have never seen it yet. But on with the story, the little tyke comes out and they throw his tiny arse in an incubator and take him almost immediately to baby intensive care. They say as a precaution and I can go see him in 15 minutes.

I hang out with my wife for a little while when my mother-in-law barges in and starts yelling at everyone aboiut something. I get into my second real fiight with her when I tell her to leave ( the first was when I told her I would not cross a picket line so she could have the wedding reception at some cheaper hotel).

After about 10 minutes I go up to baby intensive care to see my son but he is not there. The lady at the desk doesn't know anything about him being sent up and I strat freaking out some. I go back down to my wife and there she is holding the baby. Apparently they decided he was healthy and didn't need observation on the way up to intensive care and brought him right back down. Ok, alls well.

The first time I remeber bonding with my son was later that night. I heard a baby crying in the hallway and knew instantly that it was him. They were bringing him down for a feeding. I stepped into the hallway and walked up to the nurse and took him from her. He stopped crying right away. Of course i started to cry because I figured one of us should be.

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

[ QUOTE ]
my son was very colicly (sp?), and I spent many a night up at 3am walking around a screaming baby trying to comfort him, wondering what the hell I was doing in this position...I definitely loved my baby, but I'm pretty sure I hated him at the same time when I was on another four day sprint of virtually no sleep

[/ QUOTE ]

colic - the dirty little secret of some newborn babies. Our little girl was colicky (sp) as well and there were nights that I was wondering what the return policy on her was. 2 things amaze me about this time in our lives : 1 - that we survived; 2 - how little of it I actually remember. I know that the first 6 months were incredibly hard and that she cried a lot and didn't sleep much during the day (she still doesn't), but only a few specific memories remain and they are actually endearing (me soothing her by dancing with her while Nora Jones played on the stereo (over and over and over again)).

~FishNChips

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

I remember that I would walk circles around the dining room/kitchen area in the dark, with my eyes closed (because I had memorized the space better than a blind person ever could), at 3 am, bouncing slightly with him over my shoulder, patting his back, counting steps down from 1000. I am reasonably certain that I would be asleep more often than not as I did this...

Ray

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

cradled my daughter along my arm (like carrying a football) and rocked her gently as I walked. The worst part was that even if I got her to sleep I couldn't put her down because she would wake up and we'd have to start again. I couldn't even sit down with her many nights...

Amazing what we'll do for those little buggers!

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

My wife's first words as her daughter slides out and she sees her bluish, slimy, squirming, crying body for the first time:

"Oh my god, it's so weird! It's so weird!"

Hehehe, she's never gonna live that down.

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

i am not a father, but i am daddy.

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

I remember the births of both of our children quite vividly.

For the first, my wife had just begun her maternity leave, and the baby wasn't due for a few more weeks. It was 7pm and I was doing some work to my truck (long time project vehicle and money pit). I had rented an engine hoist to pull the motor, had a bazillion tools and parts spread out and had just finished removing the cylinder head; my arms and clothes were covered in grease when my wife came down stairs and said in a very quiet voice that her water had broken. My stomach jumped several feet upwards and to the left, and then I quickly stuffed tools, parts, and an engine hoist back into the garage, hurriedly got cleaned up, stuffed some clothes into an overnight bag, and drove us to the hospital. One funny story from the hospital: My wife had been consistent throughout the pregnancy that she wanted a natural childbirth, and did not want any drugs or an epidural. Once we got the hospital and the labor pains began in earnest, she reconsidered this decision, first agreeing to fentanyl and later to an epidural. When the anesthesiologist finally arrived, it turned out he was a classmate of hers from college, which was weird because she went to a small school (Swarthmore), on the opposite side of the country, and not a classic pre-med school. It was funny because it was so incongruous -- she's already almost hallucinating from the pain and the baby that's trying to get out, and here's this guy who's simultaneously putting an IV in her spine and asking her how people she hasn't seen in 10 years are doing. Very surreal.

The total labor took 12 hours, which is pretty quick for a first child. I was at her side and watched the delivery, which was fascinating, although my wife was squezing my fingers so hard i was worried she might break one of them, lol. Happily, our son was born healthy. The next few days are a blur, but my most vivid memory is when when we went home 48 hours later, carrying our sleeping son up the stairs, in his car seat, into our home, setting him down on the floor, and then my wife and I turning to each other and each having this feeling of, "Oh, [censored], what now? what have we gotten ourselves into??" LOL...that was five years ago, and we've come a long way since then, although I just spent the weekend with my brother, who had his first child 10 weeks ago, and it brought back a flood of memories.

The birth of our daughter was much quicker and much less traumatic -- labor lasted only a couple of hours, and we both had some idea of what to expect for the ensuing days/weeks/months.

It's been a surprise how different our daughter is from our son -- while our son is very sanguine, our daughter is much more opinionated and hot tempered. She really keeps us on our toes! I quickly bonded with our son, but I had a very hard time bonding with our daughter during the first year, as she was colicky and only wanted the attention of her mother. Since she turned one in August she mellowed a bit and has blossomed into a delightful, mischevious little girl who has her daddy wrapped around her finger. But boy, is she going to be trouble when she gets older!

I love both of my kids and couldn't imagine life without them.

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

Bwana,

Congrats. The being scared doesn't go away as they get older. The things you worry about just change. It's worth it. Try not to raise him with a stick up his ass though. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

I'm 42, my oldest son is 15, and another son thats 7. My wife had both kids all natural, no pain drugs. The first son was a long labor.. that head never wanted to poke thru. Finally after 17 hours he squeezed out, all purple, pink, slimy, and very stinky. My wife is crying with joy. I got to cut the umbilicle cord and -oops- I accidentally snipped the doctors finger instead. Got some good tasteful "over the shoulder" video that my wife loves watching every year on the boy's birthday.

The 2nd son things happened much faster. Again took some video but it didn't come out as good. I had run out to the waiting area to tell some relatives that it might be awhile.. when I returned to my wife a few minutes later son #2 was sliding out. Everybody was alot more calm and relaxed about it.. but the doctor never made it back to my wife in time so the head nurse got to do all the duties. I didn't cut any extra finters this time tho.

Kids are great, life's greatest joy. A good friend since highschool him and his wife have tried for years to get pregnant, and finally adopted a 1 year old girl last month. My friend says he's never been happier, that "now he gets it". Fun stuff.

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

[ QUOTE ]

colic - the dirty little secret of some newborn babies. Our little girl was colicky (sp) as well and there were nights that I was wondering what the return policy on her was. 2 things amaze me about this time in our lives : 1 - that we survived; 2 - how little of it I actually remember. I know that the first 6 months were incredibly hard and that she cried a lot and didn't sleep much during the day (she still doesn't), but only a few specific memories remain and they are actually endearing (me soothing her by dancing with her while Nora Jones played on the stereo (over and over and over again)).

~FishNChips

[/ QUOTE ]

Starting at two weeks, my now-almost-14 daughter was either sleeping, eating or screaming literally twenty four hours a day. We were worried, of course, especially when every book said that colic doesn't kick in until they're one month old, but the doc said it was no problem - for the baby, at least. I remember walking laps around the house in the middle of the night carrying her, hoping to get her to sleep; then when she did I'd hold her and watch dog-sled races on ESPN2 at 3AM. It was a case of colic fit for the record books, and no remedy worked except time. This time the books were right, and almost exactly as the clock struck 3 months, the light switch flipped and her crying stopped almost overnight.

You feel like you're going crazy during the colic phase, if it's bad enough. Two years later, when we had our second child I found myself panicking every time he started to cry: not again! God, not again!

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

DB, great thread!

I have 2 kids now, but the first is something I will NEVER forget! My wife became preclamptic very early on in her pregancy and was on total complete bed rest at week 28.

The doctor had already decided to take her 2-3 weeks early if all was going well. At 34 weeks, we go for a checkup and the doc tells us to go to the hospital and check-in. She told us that she wanted he in the hospital for the remainder of the pregnancy. My wife and I look at each other and and are like. great, 3+ weeks in a hospital even before the baby comes. We end up running home to pick up the "over-night" bag we had already packed and headed to the hospital. I was going to return later and pack some more things. We get to the hospital and they tell us to check-in at Labor and Delivery. We're like WTF? We're not having the baby yet... we're just checking in until the doc decides it is time.

They tell us they have a room in L&D for us, so we comply. We find out shortly after that the doc had changed her mind and planned on delivering the baby in a few days. We get settled in and the nurse takes my wifes BP (185/105ish) and is concerned. They give her magnisium to help and start the enduction. We had now been in the hospital for only about 1 hr! Through the night my wife got progressively more and more sick and her BP kept rising. They had the BP machine set to take a reading evey 5 minutes, yet they wanted my wife to get some sleep.. [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Her BP reached a max of about 210/120 (at which I started freaking out!) She had multiple nurses and docs checking on her during the night and every time the BP machine was about to take a reading, I would whisper in my wifes ear that is was coming. If I did not do this, she would totally freak out when it started. So there I am from about midnight till 6am whispering "OK, there gonna get a BP reading now" every 5 minutes and I had been holding off on taking a leak for about 3 hours now!

6am rolls around and my wife's doc walks into the room looking like a trainwreck. She had been up much of the night talking to the L&D nurses and on-call docs at regular clips.

I quickly make a bee-line for the restroom and am back in like 2-3 minutes and they are already wheeling her in for an emergency c-section as there is some concern that she could stroke out. So I begin to quickly don a gown, cap, and booties. The doc begins to scrub-in and has me turn on the water as she can't get it to work!!! I say something along the lnes of.."OK, I can take care of this, you do the hard part in there".. she comes back with.. "Don't worry, this is the hard part" and gives me a big smile. My wife's doc is awesome! We go into the OR and the baby is out in what seems like 30 seconds. My daughter, even at 35 weeks, is pretty strong, but they rush her off to the NICU after a few seconds of bonding for observation. My daughter staed in the NICU for 9 days before she could go home. She was 4lbs-6oz and 18in at birth.

My second was born 15 months later (not planned to be so soon) and my wife had a repeat C since the births were so close. The second pregnacy went much better and my wife did not have hardly any issues with preclampsia.

My kids are now 4.5 and almost 6 and are so friggin great!

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

db,

Just saw this thread. I might recount my experience with my firstborn later. I just want to let everyone know that I go into with my wife very early in the am for the birth of child 4 (planned C-section). Wish me luck. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

bravo, that story seems all too familiar (see mine above). Scary, especially for a first time father. I was luckier that my boy didn't have to spend any time in NICU but yours turned out ok so that's good.

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

My parents tried to get a refund.

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

[ QUOTE ]
db,

Just saw this thread. I might recount my experience with my firstborn later. I just want to let everyone know that I go into with my wife very early in the am for the birth of child 4 (planned C-section). Wish me luck. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]
GL vulturesrow!

My first is due Aug. 27th. I'll bump the thread myself then [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

Given the current theme of childhood/babies/etc, I asked NT to move this thread to the Lounge,m and he kindly agreed.

enjoy the reread.

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Given the current theme of childhood/babies/etc, I asked NT to move this thread to the Lounge,m and he kindly agreed.

enjoy the reread.

[/ QUOTE ]
My initial reaction was sadness due to the post immediately above yours.

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Heh. Mine were both by c-section and I was in the operating room for both. Jar of dirt under the bed because their grandad insisted they be "born over Texas soil" even though we were in St. Louis.

[/ QUOTE ]

VNH
god how i wish i had thought of this.

I grew up in Texas, now living in S.C. (which is nice except for the conservative, anti-poker mentality) where we will stay, but I am VERY nostalgic for Texas, and wish my kids couild have said THEY were Texans.

I think i need a Big Red!!
best wishes,
doc

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

bumped for the guy asking about being a new father.


I will add the baby I talk about in the first post has just turned twelve, and is over 6 feet tall.

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

My ship let me go on leave when it was headed to Halifax for a couple weeks. She was a couple weeks overdue and we went in for a checkup. The doctor simply asked "You want to have a baby today?". They gave her the drugs to induce labor at 11am, and she was stll in labor at midnight.

Finally, my son was born at 3am on Oct 10th 1987. His first act on earth was to pee on the doctor. The nurse turns to me and asks if I want to cut the umbilical cord. My response was a look of horror and practically shouting the word "NO".

They hand Billy to me and I look at this dripping wet wrinkled little guy, and think "it's you and me, buddy. Whatever else happens, it's you and me".

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

Advice for fathers:

1. Don't worry, your dad didn't know what he was doing, either.

2. No, no--not that Spock!

3. Second thought, maybe you should worry.

4. Never tell anybody that you and your wife are "trying."
We really don't need the visual, that's why.

5. Never tell anybody where your child was conceived, how long it took, or what song was playing.

6. Do not name your baby after cities, geographical points of interest, features of the solar system, seasons, plants, animals, or current television stars.

7. Your child, at birth, already has a deeply complicated relationship with his mother, and, for the first year, you are only a curiosity.
For a couple of years after that, an amusement-park ride.
Then, a referee.
And finally, a bank.

8. If you want to subject your son to the unkindest cut, insist on a local anesthetic, since many pediatricians don't bother to use one.
The anesthetic is for the kid.

9. Baby gas is lessened with a good nipple connection during feeding, which decreases air intake.
Assuring that his lower lip is flipped out, not pursed, helps.

10. There is nothing wrong with thumb-sucking, which helps ease the pain of teething.
Nonetheless, it probably ought to stop by kindergarten.

11. Diaper-rash remedy: Expose baby's hydraulics to the air until dry. Soak baby's bottom in tepid water with a half cup baking soda. Then, Balmex. Or Lotrimin. Rediaper.

12. You know how they say you'll get used to diapers? You won't.
Unless you wear them a lot.

13. Forcing children to use toilets will make them dislike toilets.
Children begin using toilets when they tire of that not-so-fresh feeling.
Of course, this is long, way long, after you tire of it.

14. The start of crawling: usually begins between six months and twelve months.
Standing: usually between nine and twelve months.
Walking: between twelve and fifteen months.
The onset of the above, as with all developmental skills, is hugely variable among individual children.

15. Avoid walkers, not only because they can be dangerous around stairs but because they don't require a child to balance and thus retard his walking progress.

16. Reason boys are better: They cannot get pregnant.

17. Reason girls are better: They're less likely to get arrested.

18. The threat of an unknown punishment is always more effective than a stated one.

19. Annals of great punishments: Hang dolly from a noose!
That was a joke, Dad, a joke.
Annals of great punishments, for real: making him wash the car, clean the bathroom, and watch The McLaughlin Group.
You see, all great punishments should reduce the number of disagreeable tasks you would otherwise have to perform.

20. Teach by example.

21. Your kids can develop an independent sense of good taste only if they're allowed to make their own mistakes in judgment.

22. Relax: Lots of little boys want a Barbie and a dollhouse.

23. The first time you change your son's diaper and he pees all over you is not an accident. It's foreshadowing.

24. Children of too-strict parents are more likely to develop tics.

25. Let them take reasonable risks: A few scrapes in the long run are nothing compared with the scars left by hovering parents. Or tics.
In preparation for risks: a Red Cross first-aid course.

26. The most common cause of fatal injury among kids between five and nine involves cars, which is to say, hold their hands. And buckle them in.

27. Try to tuck them in every night, too.

28. When changing diapers, avoid baby powder, as it can irritate her lungs.
When changing diapers, definitely don't avoid the Desitin--spread it thick, like Spackle.

29. It never hurts to videotape the baby-sitter.
Especially if she's hot.

30. Never disclose to other parents that you have found a good baby-sitter.

31. Reason boys are better: They cost less, especially their clothes.

32. Reason girls are better: They're less likely to burn, slash, or chew the clothes they have.

33. Overalls are not only cute, they provide a convenient handle.

34. At a certain point, your child will appear to survive exclusively on peanut butter, french fries, Cheerios, and hot dogs.

35. Dropping food on the floor is a new and delightful skill to a one-year-old, not a deliberate attempt to annoy you.
However, as small he or she might be, never underestimate an infant's ability to project chewed food over great distances.

36. The single most important thing a father can possess: Wet-Naps.

37. NOW, more than ever, don't move into a place without laundry facilities.

38. Children's hobbies to nip quickly in the bud: drums, archery, matchbook collecting.

39. Beware your child's uncles, who will teach your kid dirty words, introduce him to liquor, and give him gifts of drums, archery sets, and possibly matches.
[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

I have 2 kids- a girl who is 6 going on 16 and a boy who is 5.

We were lucky in a way. We didn't have to go through labor. Both kids were pre-planned C-Sections due to a fibroid that my wife had removed from the wall of her uterus a year or so before she got pregnant. The wall of her uterus may have ruptured if she went through labor, so the doctor wanted to do a C-section, which was fine with my wife. She wasn't real big on experiencing labor.

So we knew the day it was happening on for both kids a month or so in advance, so there was no surprise there. The only surprise we wanted was the sex of the baby.
The only problem my wife had was during the first one, there was a lot of bleeding from the uterus that he had a hard time controlling. He probably would have had to remove her uterus if he couldn't get it under control. Thankfully he was able to. I had no idea this was going on. I was over at the table with my new daughter in complete amazement over what we just brought into this goofy world.

When my son was born 16 months later, the doctor was prepared for the bleeding. He had blood standing by this time, but this timne the bleeding wasn't bad.

My wife couldn't see my daughter come out of her. They held her up, but not high enough. she was able to see my son come out. It was quite a thrill for her. I was able to see both kids come out, and I still get choked up when I think about it.

My wife liked to say we had Hollywood babies-their heads weren't all smooshed from being squeezed through the birth canal.

Both those days have to be the happiest days of my life. All the mystery of figuring out how to take care of something so little, even though they are made of rubber, just lay there, eating, sleeping, and pooping.

When we were trying to figure out names for our second kid, if it was a boy it was going to be between Anthony Michael and Aaron Michael. My wife called me at work and told me that the C-section date was gong to be August 16, 2001 and that happened to be the date that Elvis Presley died in 1977. I said that Elvis' full name was Aaron Elvis Presley(or Elvis Aaron, I can't remember which). I told her that's a sign that we should pick Aaron if it is a boy. And no we are not Elvis fans.

My mom was very happy when my son was born. He was the first grandson. My brother and sister both had girls, so everyone was very happy to see it was a boy.

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

My wife developed severe preeclampsia. We ended up in the ER and 3 days later my daughter was delivered via emergency c-section, 12 weeks premature. She weighed 2 lb, 3 oz.

That was the scariest [censored] thing I have ever been through. Our daughter lived in an incubator for about 8 weeks. We brought her home when she was just barely over 4lb.

She turns 3 next week [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

http://www.halfboxjh.com/img_0172.jpg http://www.halfboxjh.com/img_2381.jpg

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

i'm sure it was scary, and hard to deal with.
she looks great now! congrats.

Re: For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?
 

My oldest was an interesting experience. My wife went into labor about 10:00 pm. After a few hours at home we went to the hospital. Everything was going along smoothly (though slowly.) When the doctor got there about 10:00 am he checked on my wife and said that the baby was breach and we'd have to do a c-section. Things moved fairly quickly after that and we had our son shortly after 11:00. When I heard it was going to be a c-section I broke down. I was very nervous for my wife's safety (even though a c-section is fairly common) and we just didn't mentally prepare for the surgery at all.

WARNING RELIGIOUS CONTENT: A few days later I went to church. I had been in kind of a rut with my faith and needed a boost. I questioned how great a sacrifice was really made by Jesus --- I mean there are martyrs who die for their faith and they didn't have the benefit of knowing they were god. And then it hit me...the great sacrifice wasn't just dying, it was sending a child to death.

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Our first daughter's birth was a scheduled c-section. Really, we were both cool as a cucumber. Nothing really out there with that one, though we really did bring a beautiful baby into the world.

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The twins' birth was something else entirely. My wife was scheduled for a c-section on Thursday, September 27th (this year.) The doctor wanted to do an amnio on Tuesday the 25th. I was saving up my time off work and decided to head to work instead of the amnio (my wife's mother went with her.) I was on the train and just about to Chicago (hour+ train ride) when I get a call on my cell from my mother in-law saying "turn around, they're taking the twins today." The train schedule was not compliant, so I took a $100+ cab ride to the hospital --- nervous as hell. The twins were born about 10 minutes after I got there at 10:50 and 10:51 respectively. Anna was whisked away to intensive care and Emma, my wife, and I headed to recovery. The nerves were really high about Anna, but there ended up being nothing wrong.

My kids = cute [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] (and slightly aryan looking)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0004.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0014.jpg