We were really lucky because the night my wife gave birth we were the only ones in the labour ward so all of the attention was for us. I was expecting the typical type of birth that you see in films where my wife would be screaming with pain and I'd be there feeling sorry for her and feeling useless. But the truth is that it was nothing like that at all. When we arrived to the hospital (3:15am) after being the whole day with contractions my wife was about 4cm and straight away they gave her the epidural. Even though she had been the whole day with contractions they weren't that hard so she could handle them without to much pain or discomfort. The last hour before we arrived to the hospital were when the contractions were stronger and more painful but once the epidural was given she was doing great. She dialated really quickly and after a few hours the time arrived for our son to be born.
Even though you haven't seen your child in person, he has been in your thoughts for the last nine months and has being part of your family since day one. It's a very emotional time because your worried about the well being of both your wife and your child and really don't want any complications because you know you can't do anything in this situation.
We went into labour room and my wife did great and I'm so proud of her. She listened to the midwife and did exactly what she had told. I was by her side and could see everything that was happening and it's amazing. About 5-10 minutes later our son was born without any complications. They take your baby and put him on directly on his mammys chest and you feel so happy, relieved and greatful that everything is ok. You've gone from being pregnant to being parents in such a short time.
Now during the next few days you have to get used to picking up the baby and taking ages to change the nappy and get used to his feeding time table. It's all a learning experience from now on !
Whilst it is a big responsibility as a father it's also a huge fountain of happiness and love. It makes you look at things differently right across the board from how you drive your car to admiring all other parents out there because you now know what they have been through and what they are continuing to do.
It's true that people try and explain these sensations to you before you have a child and even though you think you know what they are talking about, you actually don't ! Your life changes in a way that you can never go back to but your not losing anything your in fact gaining so much.
It's hard the first few weeks to get used to the new timetable and to adjust your way of thinking because now your not only thinking about you and your partner, your now thinking about your son, your partner and then yourself. I know people say when they have a child that there lifestyle will not change and I too thought that but that fact is that it's gonna change because now your child is more important than your lifestyle. These lifestyle changes will be mostly at the start when the child is still a baby and then I suppose as the child gets older you will either stick with the new lifestyle or mix it with the old one. Anyway I'm kind of rambling here and probably speaking to soon about lifestyle changes as my son is only five weeks old :-).
The last five weeks had passed so quickly and each week I see changes in my son. It's really nice to see him grow, see him smiling and his reactions to your voice. Every stage will have its moments and we look forward them but for now we're enjoying this one.
I'm sure a lot of people can relate to my experience and I hope it can help out anyone that's going to be a new mammy or daddy soon ! Best of luck :-) !
