For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?

[Elevens]

I remember my first born like it was only six months ago. Oh, wait, it was only six months ago...

[JasonK]

What I remember most from the delivery room is the smell. Nasty.

[Blarg]

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Okay, this is one for fathers, and therefore mostly the older posters.

I've been a father for over 10 years now, 3 children. I still remember my first one's birth very vividly.

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"That's what made me pass out in the first place."

[Gunny Highway]

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.

By the way, DB, you'll apreciate this, for some weird reason I started humming "Blow the Man Down" to my kid to soothe him. I didn't really even realize what it was for months after I'd been humming and whistling it to him. Anyway my son's earliest memories are of a pirate chantey.

[Nottom]

Me and the Mrs were sitting at home. I was playing a MTT and she was watching when she told me that she was having some pains ... not labor pains, but she was concerned about them and called the hospital and they told her to come in to see the doctor. I was just outside the bubble with a decent stack, but even I know this was not the time to argue with her about overreacting (which she tends to do).

Anyway, we head over to the Hospital and they put us in a room and hooked her up to a bunch of monitors and basically said to just sit around and we'll call in the doctor if things look strange and if not you'll see him in the morning.

Things don't look too abnormal so we get a couple hours of sleep before the doctor shows up around 6:30AM and says that things are probably OK, but he is going to go ahead and induce labor just to be on the safe side since my wife had symptoms of Preeclampsia and the baby should be far enough along to deliver (the due date was about 3 weeks away).

So they give my wife the Pitocin and tell us we should have a baby by the end of the day. At this point, she tells me to go home and grab the suitcase we had packed and get myself some breakfast (they wouldn't let her eat anything at this point) so I run off and grab a biscuit on my way back (we lived about 5 min from the hospital).

For most of the day we waited for somethign to happen, my wife had some minor contractions but the labor never really seemed to advance and she never really dialated beyond a couple cm. By 5:00 they had decided to do a C-section and they would come get her in a little bit (which in Hospitalease usually means about an hour), this was a big disappointment to my wife who really wanted to go through the delivery process (after all we did take all those classes!). I got to go out to the waiting room and let the parents know what was going on and told them to go grab some food becasue they wouldn't be able to see her for a while. When I got back to the room they were already moving her into the OR, and gave me some scrubs to put on if I wanted to go back with her.

Obviously I wasn't going to miss the birth of my daughter so I put them on and followed them back. They put me in the surgeon's lounge to wait for them to do all the stuff they need to do prior to actually doing the delivery. I sat and sat and sat and finally they told me to go into the OR. When I get in, my wife has about the most pathetic look on her face and a curtain across her chest so we can't really see what they are doing (which is a good thing). After a couple minutes, they pull out the tiniest baby I had ever seen and after flashing her to us run her over to a table under a warming lamp to clean her up and do the intial tests to make sure she's ok. My wife is getting really restless about wanting to see her and after a couple minutes they bring her back over and she finally gets to see our 4lb 14oz baby girl.

At this point they tell my wife that she will need to go to the recovery room after getting stitched back up and the baby and I will be back in the room waiting on her. So here I was alone with Alyssa, my baby girl, and I have no clue how long we would be waiting on her mother. All sorts of feeling are going though my head, I'm worried about her mom, I'm scared I'm gonna do somethign stupid and hurt her because she's so small, but mostly I'm just overwhelmed by the fact that I am now the father of the most beautiful baby in the world. This will be 2 years ago next Thursday.

Anyway, I've rambled on way too long already so I'll leave it at that.

[Blarg]

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

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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."

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
It was pretty quick for me but horrible non the less, was overdue so they broke her waters. Hooked up the tens machine, I was in charge of the control and turned it up a touch too much she nearly bounced off the ceiling.

Labour was very quick but we had a problem that the nurse assisting was a trainee she was ending training she checked when the head was out for the cord etc but screwed up. SO cord was round which meant my daughter came out not breathing properly, so she was shoved in front of her mams nose then rushed off to get oxygen.

Very scary moreso for me as our lass was out of it on the gas and air, but everything was fine.

I think looking back now though while it is a life defining moment and people build up to it as the pregnancy goes on as a main even, I think though that the highlights come a lot later in parental life moreso once the broken sleep nights and nappies finish.

Then the buggers become teens and I see what a pain in the ass my stepson currently is I would say make sure you make the most of these early years.

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All teenagers are pains. Good on you if you're taking care of your stepson and being a good father to him even if he's being a typical teenager. So many stepdads drop the ball so terribly.

[Dominic]

[ QUOTE ]
Me and the Mrs were sitting at home. I was playing a MTT and she was watching when she told me that she was having some pains ... not labor pains, but she was concerned about them and called the hospital and they told her to come in to see the doctor. I was just outside the bubble with a decent stack, but even I know this was not the time to argue with her about overreacting (which she tends to do).

Anyway, we head over to the Hospital and they put us in a room and hooked her up to a bunch of monitors and basically said to just sit around and we'll call in the doctor if things look strange and if not you'll see him in the morning.

Things don't look too abnormal so we get a couple hours of sleep before the doctor shows up around 6:30AM and says that things are probably OK, but he is going to go ahead and induce labor just to be on the safe side since my wife had symptoms of Preeclampsia and the baby should be far enough along to deliver (the due date was about 3 weeks away).

So they give my wife the Pitocin and tell us we should have a baby by the end of the day. At this point, she tells me to go home and grab the suitcase we had packed and get myself some breakfast (they wouldn't let her eat anything at this point) so I run off and grab a biscuit on my way back (we lived about 5 min from the hospital).

For most of the day we waited for somethign to happen, my wife had some minor contractions but the labor never really seemed to advance and she never really dialated beyond a couple cm. By 5:00 they had decided to do a C-section and they would come get her in a little bit (which in Hospitalease usually means about an hour), this was a big disappointment to my wife who really wanted to go through the delivery process (after all we did take all those classes!). I got to go out to the waiting room and let the parents know what was going on and told them to go grab some food becasue they wouldn't be able to see her for a while. When I got back to the room they were already moving her into the OR, and gave me some scrubs to put on if I wanted to go back with her.

Obviously I wasn't going to miss the birth of my daughter so I put them on and followed them back. They put me in the surgeon's lounge to wait for them to do all the stuff they need to do prior to actually doing the delivery. I sat and sat and sat and finally they told me to go into the OR. When I get in, my wife has about the most pathetic look on her face and a curtain across her chest so we can't really see what they are doing (which is a good thing). After a couple minutes, they pull out the tiniest baby I had ever seen and after flashing her to us run her over to a table under a warming lamp to clean her up and do the intial tests to make sure she's ok. My wife is getting really restless about wanting to see her and after a couple minutes they bring her back over and she finally gets to see our 4lb 14oz baby girl.

At this point they tell my wife that she will need to go to the recovery room after getting stitched back up and the baby and I will be back in the room waiting on her. So here I was alone with Alyssa, my baby girl, and I have no clue how long we would be waiting on her mother. All sorts of feeling are going though my head, I'm worried about her mom, I'm scared I'm gonna do somethign stupid and hurt her because she's so small, but mostly I'm just overwhelmed by the fact that I am now the father of the most beautiful baby in the world. This will be 2 years ago next Thursday.

Anyway, I've rambled on way too long already so I'll leave it at that.

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but did you survive the bubble and make the money or did you get blinded off??? I swear, some people have no idea what's important in a story.

[bwana devil]

talk to me in about a month. i have my first baby due at the beginning of june. june 5 actually. im a nervous and excited wreck.

if the baby is born one day late his birthday will be 6.6.06. my wife say's we're naming him damien.

gunny, i like the pirate humming story. pretty good. and although i feel a bond w/ him already, nice to know i shouldnt be weirded out if its not as strong as i hope right after the birth. im a bit scared of that, along w/ a lot of things.


bwana

[Blarg]

Eat the placenta!