Being a first-time dad feels a bit like working on a city road crew. I had to be there, but I was basically just standing around watching other people work and trying not to get in their way. Occasionally I’d fluff a pillow or offer my wife some ice chips, but I really had no business being there. I think maybe I was more suited for the “good ol’ days” when the fathers-to-be would smoke cigars in the waiting room, but there I was dressed like an extra from “ER” in the pre-delivery room at St. Jude’s Hospital awaiting the birth of our first son.
During my wife’s labor, words such as dilation, contractions, and epidural were repeatedly uttered by everyone who entered the room. I also got a constant refresher course in the metric-system as the day played out, and found out many interesting internal facts about my wife.
We went into the delivery room/operating room where I stood near my wife’s head as the doctors and nurses stretched her out on the table. Shiny medical instruments rested on a tray nearby and I felt like I was about to watch the “mercy scene” from Braveheart up close and personal.
We wanted to be surprised by the sex of the baby, and tears flowed when Dr. Tobin announced, “it’s a boy.” Dr. Tobin asked me if I wanted to cut the umbilical cord. Maybe some guys are into that, but I was thinking, “what am I paying you for?” The mechanic doesn’t fix the engine and then ask the owner to close the hood. Finish the job you started Doc!
They placed the baby on a warmer, a medical device inspired no doubt by advances in the fast food industry. He weighed in a 8lbs, 6 ounces, and 20 inches long. He had a “suck blister” on his forearm and long fingernails and wrinkled skin. If he’d had long white hair and Kleenex boxes on his feet he would have looked like Howard Hughes.
My wife had a two-bed recovery room, and the other bed wasn’t being used, so I got to spend the night in the hospital with her and our new baby. I had never spent any time around new born babies, and was amazed how small they are – basically the size of a loaf of bread. I never practiced diapering a baby, so my first change came in the recovery room in the middle of that first night, in the complete darkness, where I also had to chart the time, consistency, and color of the baby’s first few poops.
Witnessing my son’s arrival and first experiences on earth was gratifying, humbling, and a rollercoaster of emotions, but certainly a great bucket list check-off that I‘ll never forget. Our son, who celebrates his 11th birthday in two days has been a joy and a blessing, as well as his brother who arrived two-and-a-half years later.
