For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?

[Gunny Highway]

I remember the day very vividly, but honestly, when my first child was born, it was like a couple of weeks before I really felt any kind of bond. It bothered my for awhile but I've since been told that it's fairly common for new fathers, first time fathers in particular. Now my kids mean pretty much everything. Nothing I wouldn't do.

[diebitter]

Yeah, I was surprised how fast it was for me. I really think being left with the little guy in a quiet, low-lit room, with him looking up at me and being very calm, must have accelerated it quite a lot.

[youtalkfunny]

I was in the delivery room. What a horrible custom that is. I'd much rather live in the "Father's Waiting Room" era.

C-section, wife is out cold. I'm standing next to her head, video camera in hand. That's another stupid custom. I refuse to watch the video. I didn't even want to bring a camera, but everyone urged me to, so I did. I didn't bring any cameras for subsequent visits to the delivery room.

I was working at the IP sportsbook at the time, and it's the day after the Superbowl, so the entire video is the doctor and I talking about prop bets.

Finally, I hear a "squish, plop!" noise. The kid is out.

And she's not crying.

Uh-oh.

Nobody on the staff sounds panicked, but their body language has changed completely. We've gone from "routine" to "urgent" without anyone saying a word.

The head nurse has the kid, and is walking quickly over to the "clean the baby up" table. The kid lets out a half-hearted welp, which I decide is better than nothing. And I catch a glimpse of my daughter for the first time: she's blue.

I can't remember exactly what happened next. Bottom line is, she had a partially collapsed lung. They got her breathing, and everything was fine within minutes.

That fear of the kid potentially being in harm's way that DB mentioned--I got to feel that when she was two seconds old. Abject terror.

I wasn't at the hospital when my second kid was born. I can't remember why not, but I got there when it was all over. Instead of a blue kid, this time we got a yellow one (jaundice). "She's in the nursery. They have her in one of those glass cases, under UV lights, to treat the jaundice."

Down to the nursery I go. I find the glass case with the lights. There's my little girl. They have a blindfold on her, to protect her eyes from the lights. And they have her hands tied behind her back, so she doesn't tug at the blindfold.

Somebody could've taken a minute, and prepared me for that sight. I became completely unglued for a few minutes.

Third kid, third color: pink. Healthy! About damn time.

At that point, we quit while we were ahead.

(This thread where men talk about their feelings strikes me as very un-macho. My father would not approve.)

[GambleGamble]

DB,

Great post......

....I just hope when I spawn my demon child that I will have a similar experiences to yours...

GG

[diebitter]

[ QUOTE ]
Down to the nursery I go. I find the glass case with the lights. There's my little girl. They have a blindfold on her, to protect her eyes from the lights. And they have her hands tied behind her back, so she doesn't tug at the blindfold.

Somebody could've taken a minute, and prepared me for that sight. I became completely unglued for a few minutes.


[/ QUOTE ]

Holy crap. That's just awful. How could they not warn you of it? [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Thanks for sharing though. Parenthood is a long, long march, and you really don't get to ease into it, do you.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
(This thread where men talk about their feelings strikes me as very un-macho. My father would not approve.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Totally rocks. There were lots of things our dads had right, maybe more than we do, but there were lots of things we have a lot more right than they did.

I favor them in not bringing a video camera into the room to film the birth. And never dreaming of saying, "We're pregnant." Or ever using the word "preggers."