The clock is ticking down and my wife and I are fast approaching a period filled with a number of unknown quantities that will ultimately lead us to the birth of our first child.
We are pretty certain it’s a girl but even that isn’t 100%. Different nurses and consultants thought they saw 3 lines and no dangly bits but on each scan, the baby decided to keep their private parts… well private (My kinda daughter right there!). The unknown quantities leave me wondering, how should I be preparing for all of this? What’s my role when the countdown stops? What about the what ifs, there’s so many! For instance…
· I have bath salts, candles and mood music at the ready to create a calm peaceful environment for those early labour stages but what if the sounds of a classic Beyonce single triggers the initial rage generated by Jay’s latest verse on “Drunk in Love”?
· My hospital route is planned 35 minutes on a good day 50 on a bad (I’m yet to break the speed limit though) but what if a tractor breaks down blocking a village lane (I live in the countryside this COULD HAPPEN)
· What if it’s a 48 hour labour??? How do I stop myself from unintentionally nodding off while my wife is enduring one of the most painful experiences of her life???
What do I do??? The more I analyse it the more I feel I’ll just end up working myself into some crazy kinda sweat drenched stress and panic! Not a good look! I picked my younger cousin’s brain over Christmas about their experiences when their day came a couple years back. One of them described it as the most “useless” he has ever felt as a partner when he was in that delivery room. When it comes down to it they both agreed “there really isn’t anything you can do but be there for them”.
And I guess that’s it right there. There are so many variables out of my control there is no point getting worked up about it all. Stay calm be everything they need you to be at that moment and help ensure that both mother and child come out the otherside healthy and happy. Probably gonna need to be my attitude for everything moving forward now. So it begins… Fatherhood.
Ash
I could watch Scdehnlir’s List and still be happy after reading this.