For fathers: remember when you first became a daddy?

[daveymck]

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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.

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Yes I keep saying that to his Mam, he isnt that bad mainly being rude and insensitive in particular to his mother. He has said to her recently that I am the only person he can trust so I must be doing ok althogh he might not think that now after I shouted at him last week as he was spoiling a family outing.

I went into a shell as a teen and drifted away from my family somthing I still havent really got back, so hopefully will be able to keep him onside and keep the relationships going.

[Nottom]

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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.

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I think I just made the money and got my buy-in back [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

I remember thinking after we got there and we just sat around for 3 hours that I could have been at home winning the tourney. Obviously, this is not something I have ever told my wife.

[Los Feliz Slim]

My wife's pregnancy happened under close supervision, for various reasons. Her OB and parinatologist decided it was time to induce about a week shy of the actual due date because the baby was obviously big enough and they didn't want her to go through unsupervised labor. So, we show up at the hospital at 11AM on a Tuesday, having already pre-registered. It was like checking into a hotel.

We spent the next 24 hours in the pre-labor room, and nothing happened. "Failure to progress", they call it. It was C-section time.

My wife started getting REALLY scared when they put the epidural in. By the time we were in the operating room, she had entered a zen state where she was just basically pretending none of this was happening. So she was pretty quiet.

While they're opening her up, they cauterize as they go, so as they performed the C-section there's an occasional burning smell. Other than that, not much was going on. At some point, the doctor says "OK, Daddy, stand up" and I look over the screen. I couldn't believe how small the incision was - I thought they basically split the woman open, but it's really only a ten-inch or so incision, and lower than I'd imagined. There was an absolutely incredible amount of fluid collected, and the doctor had his hands inside the incision. The next thing I know, he's holding a baby up in the air, still attached to my wife by the umbilical cord.

They bring my daughter over to a warming table and start cleaning her up. When a baby is born naturally, the squeezing that occurs forces the fluid out of the baby's lungs; in a C-section they have to suction it out. After they do, one of the nurses says "I'd sure like to get a good cry out of this baby", and I realize she's been gurgling, but not really screaming. About two seconds after that it was like my daughter woke up, and she was PISSED. The nurses immediately were like "Ok, we're done here" and moved on to the adjacent OR to work on their next victim. They bundled my daughter up, I brought her over to my wife (who was still basically catatonic), and off we went to the nursery.

After getting bathed and again expressing her anger at being removed from her home, they finaly bundled my little girl up and gave her to me. We were in the "overflow" nursery at Cedars, so I had a lot of privacy. My feelings at that moment are just like DB's - she seemed to know that I was going to take care of her, and I would've fought a thousand armies to protect her. My wife was in recovery for a really long time, four hours or so, so I spent all that time holding my baby and talking and singing to her in a rocking chair.

[Mrs. Utah]

I love this thread-(sorry for imposing on a father's thread)

I am a labor and delivery nurse and it is very cool to hear daddy's perspective. I have spent a lot of times with laboring moms and dads, and its very important to me to have my dads involved.
Some are very hands on-asking lots of questions, others are completely overwhelmed and need a bit more guidance, and I have had a few be completely indifferent.

Most of the time the docs are not there until we call them-I usually take a mom to crowning before I call a doctor(given the baby is tolerating labor)-this is not uncommon.

For those of you awaiting your first, people love to share the horror stories-most deliveries go without a hitch.
Be prepared, virtually all babies come out blue-not always crying vigarously-it can take time to transition, clear fluid from their lungs-sometimes we(nurses) have to give oxygen, deep suction the airway or resuscitate a baby.

As far as the nursing aspect of it-they should always be telling you what they are doing and why-also telling you what you can expect as labor progresses-what we are looking at on the monitors, why they are predictable changes in the baby's heart rate...etc.
Ask questions, even if you have taken the classes-its always a bit different when you are there.


Chip-if you and your wife are planning a repeat section-it will seem far less chaotic. You will still most likey have to wait for her to be prepped-trust me most women don't like having their spouse/sig other watch the prep.

[youtalkfunny]

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We were extremely fortunate that we were already in the hospital because if the placental abruption had happened at home it's fairly certain we would have lost the baby and there's a possibility I would have lost my wife as well.

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After reading that, it took me a second to start breathing again.

[dcasper70]

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Wife went through hell with all the the processes for IVF. It is a medical miracle, and when I took this picture, I couldnt believe that the tests, manipulations and clinical crap resulted in this little thing in a car seat in my car.

Could be an "Ask Me" thread if anyone wants to know about the whole IVF thing. Its a trip, man.


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I would very much like to see this 'Ask Me' thread.

To the rest of you, my jealousy runs deep. I would very much like to join the club.

The stories are wonderful. Amidst all the SIIHP, help me buy a watch, NSFW, and best 1994 indie song threads, OOT has another hidden gem.

[maryfield48]

Ten days after my wife's due date, the doc decided to induce labour. She goes in to the hospital at 7am, and after 12 hours of labour produces insufficient dilation, they finally decide it's not happening and do the C-section. During that long, long, day, I sincerely wished that we'd never decided to have a child. It's not easy holding your wife's hand through such a long ordeal, seeing her in pain and feeling completely useless.

Once they took her to the theatre, I went through one of those out-of-body experiences. It was like I was looking down at this scene, I had no concept of what I was supposed to be feeling.

Half an hour or so later, I was the bewildered father of a healthy girl. For months after I could be heard saying that nothing that complicated should come without an instruction manual.

[diebitter]

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To the rest of you, my jealousy runs deep. I would very much like to join the club.


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-- dcasper70
I was aware of this, and I often think on it when I see you post - I remember you asking advice on it. I will be the happiest guy here (after you of course) when you finally come give us the good news [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Keep trying, man!

[4_2_it]

My oldest is 12 years old. My wife labored from 10PM all through teh night until 9AM the following morning without any painkillers. I watched the whole thing and cut teh umbilical cord (the scissors looked like the ones used to cut the ribbon at supermarket grand openings).

I can still remember it like it was yesterday. Thanks for letting me recall it.

One funny note. My second child had to be induced. Right as my wife is getting ready to push, we hear the women in the next delivery room over puking her guts out. So as my wife is trying to push, all you hear is the sounds of this woman's breakfast making a return visit.

[belgianbeerlover]

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I don't know if many new fathers get something like this. I think each guy is probably completely different in how he reacts.

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I got these feelings also.

I have two children and I remember each birth very well. Overall, everything went great. There were nervous moments, but all was good.

I cried like a baby at each birth. I was completely overcome with all sorts of happy emotions. It absolutely blew my mind. I never in a million years saw those emotions coming. I was so proud of wife and happy to see our new baby. I couldn't think of the last time I cried before that. My oldest is almost three, and I still get teary eyed just thinking about it.