Becoming a Dad
A few weeks ago I became a father.
I can’t begin to explain how wonderful it was hearing our baby’s cry for the first time. Compared to the work my wife put in, I was just a lowly bystander but I can confidently say bringing a kid into this world is a stressful proposition — the 9 months of pregnancy, the hospital stay, labor, all of it — but it all just melts away when you hear that baby cry and it’s you and your partner and this beautiful tiny thing.
In a flash everything changes and you’re filled to the absolute brim with overwhelming joy.
My wife’s parents and my parents and brother came to the hospital the day after to meet our baby. We couldn’t be more lucky to have their love and support. I’m on cusp of returning to work but in the past few weeks we’ve established a decent rhythm and am starting to get more sleep.
It’s absolutely true what they say about the first couple weeks. It was hard running on scraps of sleep and having the day sliced into two-hour increments. Even now that feels like a hazy memory. You just stay calm, sleep when they sleep, and soak it all in.
The three of us are doing great and we’ve been bombarded with visitors, FaceTime calls, and gifts from close friends and family. Most crucially our neighbor graciously bought us a two weeks of meal subscription food to make our feedings as smooth as possible.
I’m the absolute luckiest and I can’t wait to see who our kid becomes.
To close things out, here’s a quote my wife printed (and framed in the kid’s nursery) from our favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut:
Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you’ve got a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — “God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”