Open Discussion:
Charlie Capen, one of the masterminds behind How To Be A Dad, posted the story of the birth of his son on HTBAD last night, and he said something really interesting:
I read (or rather my wife reads to me) a mammoth number of birth stories from “mommy blogs”. I’ll admit it: I love hearing about how babies are born. I said “born” not “conceived” you sick, sick individual. Each story I read is so cathartic and sometimes gross. But after I’ve read them, I’m left thinking just one thing: What about the Dad?
I know the mom did all the “hard work” and “child birthing” and “pushing” and “screaming”, but what about the father during those stressful, torturous times?
And so we ask you guys, what’s your birth story? And when did you first really feel like a dad?
Also read This is What Real Fatherhood Looks Like, a collection of photos and quotes from real-life Good Men Project community dads.
Both our kids births were kind of traumatic for both of us, the first born the most so. About 12 days after her due date my wife woke me up in the night and told me she had had 4 or 5 contractions. They were spaced 15-20 minutes apart. Later that morning they were spaced 10 minutes apart and we left to the hopsital, but were sent back home after a few hours with orders to come back when the contractions were 5 minutes apart. After yet another 12 or so hours the contractions were still 10 minutes apart, but… Read more »
I started to feel like a Dad after my wife’s 20 week ultrasound when the ultrasound technician said, “it’s a boy BUT”. We found out later the BUT was a birth defect called CDH or congenital diaphragmatic hernia. So many decisions had to be made. If your interested in the birth story you can read it here.
http://www.papasofpreemies.com/2012/06/mark-brislin-my-nicu-story.html
Wow, I’ve neve actually seen this question asked before. To me, it isn’t a question of ‘feeling like a dad or not’. I feel it’s how much, to what degree you ‘feel like a dad’. As my wifes ‘due date’ approaced with our first child, I started to feel like a dad. When I was in the delivery room with her, I really thought I was ‘feeling lke a dad’. When I ended up, in the waiting room (I was kicked out of the delivrey room , I think I was probably driving the nurses crazy) I was thinking to… Read more »