The good
For the first time, the whole story about his birth. At about 2 am on the 4th of June our son announced his intentions. We went to bed that Monday evening as expectant parents, not too worried, it was going to be another 3 weeks before we would see him. My wife actually still worked on that day and came home at about 6 pm.
Before I really knew what was happening, I was up standing next to her and she said, I "think" my water broke. She went to the bathroom and then came back and by now maybe a little shock or inability to understand, she said, "maybe I just had a big one, not sure". I looked at her and the surroundings and said, "hmm, no, I think your water broke." Here is the thing, at that point we were as calm as could be.
We phoned the doctor, who was asleep, but very understanding and she wanted to shower, so I made some coffee, started my computer, checked if everything was in-place, showered as well and we left for hospital. At this point she started getting contractions and asked me to drive slowly, which I did until we got to the highway, then pushed it to hospital. Still calm, wide-eyed, focused.
When I got to the hospital, I drove to the parking lot, closest to the main entrance and emergency entrance. This is where I cracked for the first time, I could not find the correct parking spot, must have parked 4 or 5 times, then moved parked again, now believe me when I say at 3.30 am the parking lot is empty. Eventually parked and wife got out walking strangely, something like a duck, to the main entrance, I would get the bags and follow.
She was about halfway there when some guy (security) came from nowhere and said no, use the emergency entrance on this side. The poor fellow was half asleep himself, so I had to call the unhappy ducky to this side, and I lost it a second time. Telling this poor guy precisely what I thought. I looked back and went to help my wife, guy was gone, looked down, up, guy back with wheelchair he must have got from the bushes, I never saw any when we arrived.
My wife in wheelchair, we went for the emergency entrance, he pushed, I had the bags. Got there, the poor guy could not get the door open, for a moment I thought he was going to break the glass, he asked me to take the wheelchair, clearly embarrassed, and proceeded to put security pin in, doors opened, no problem. My wife was crying at this point, I thought she was in pain, turns out she was laughing at the whole process happening before her.
So we went to the lift and he took us to the maternity ward, by then I was feeling guilty, and thanked him as I never thanked a person before, hold his hand with both mine. After being put on the monitors to check everything is good with mom and baby, I officially checked us in, and after some more room issues, I was escorted to a locker room to dress for the occasion and met my wife again in the delivery room.
Many asked on the way, have you got a camera and I told them, this is for my wife and I, not the world. I just believe that some things should be engrained in your brain and should only be shared with your partner, our shared personal moment forever, it will never fade.
The good of this story comes now. Our son took his first breath and cried, boy-oh-boy (tear in my eye), you cannot imagine the good in that. It resonates right into your deepest self, you hear it with your whole being, every grain and you feel such love. Amazing experience.
Then the worry starts, everything alright, all in the right place and so forth. I then left the room with our son, while they just made sure all was grand with my wife and we took his weight and length. This picture was taken 15-20 minutes after birth.
After spending some time with him, I left to phone the family, to tell them the news, and here I cracked for the final time, sobbing my way through the story with my parents on the line.
The not so good
Diapers mainly, not all, but while talking about the birth, feeling helplessly incompetent with that first bath. We had a nurse, assigned, to show us the ropes, and when she did it, she worked so rough to my mind with my son, protective instincts being charged 100%, I was blowing a little, but kept it inside. The next day, we had to do it, and fumbled our way through it with the nurse giggling, we felt like, what the hell are we doing with a child. This quickly changed luckily as we got more comfortable with bathing him, so remember, we all have to start somewhere.
Diapers, for the uninitiated, before those first occasions, you do not know how you would handle this part, but luckily a baby being breastfed, has soiled diapers with very little smell. Not an issue and with time diapers become stronger as they start eating, but we can handle this with no issues. It is really not that much of an issue, I promise.
The diapers that does really fall into the not so good category for me is the ones we get when he is getting new teeth. Firstly they are sour more times than not and secondly they cause rash quickly on that delicate bum. Not good for all concerned, enough said.
