Why the Past Month Was the Wildest of My Life
My introduction to fatherhood had unexpected surprises and incredible highs and lows
My wife and I spent the night before Memorial Day 2022 watching ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and were expecting to do our cycling club events the next day. Our daughter was scheduled to be born at the end of the week by induction and neither of us expected what would transpire in the next 24 hours. We ended up going to the hospital the following morning because our normal doctor’s office was closed due to the holiday because of some medical issues my wife experienced.
We drove over to the hospital with our stuff packed in case the unexpected occurred and still thought we would have a normal day. My wife ended up getting admitted to the hospital and got told to expect our daughter to arrive the next day. That was a big surprise so we settled in, ordered lunch, and started playing a game of Scrabble on our phones to pass the time. That was the end of our slow-paced delivery experience.
They gave my wife a small dose of Pitocin to move the process along. She ended up being in labor for under an hour and a half with eight minutes of pushing our baby daughter out. If you have seen ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ you would have thought my reference to her coming out of mom at Mach 10 was appropriate. There wasn’t any time for pain killers, which is amazing, and my birth experience was keeping one of mom’s legs from kicking a doctor in the face.
We ended up having to spend 8 days in the NICU because Zoey couldn’t regulate her sugars. We went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows when we heard the news, but we knew Zoey would be in good hands and was in the right place to get ready to come home. She got such good care that I started thinking NICU doctors and nurses were angels in human form. They did everything possible to make sure Zoey would be a healthy baby and taught us how to take care of her after we left.
It was a good thing for me to spend that amount of time in the NICU. I never had changed a diaper or held another baby in my life. I had opportunities to hold other people’s kids before mine was born while my wife was pregnant but passed them up so my daughter would be the first I experience everything with. Everyone made sure I knew how to feed, hold, burp, change, and love on her the right way before we got home. I become a pro at diaper changes with wires everywhere, now it’s easy!
We have had Zoey home for a few weeks and we all are things out. There have been plenty of massive or leaky diapers, spit-ups, crying mysteries, what feels like infinite feedings, late nights and early mornings, and incredible growth and development moments for everyone. I’m so lucky to work from home so I can get some moments with my daughter during the day. I look forward to sharing more fatherhood experiences and thanks for reading!