From A Dads Point of View. Part 4
Here is part 4 continuing from my previous blog:
(Recap) Let me preface this by saying. I took a long shot at this. My husband is a very vocal man and tells me sweet nothings here and there, however, my husband is not a writer. I never thought in a million years that he would write this for me, but I had to take a shot and ask him anyway!
I asked him to tell me his point of view from his time during me being pregnant and breastfeeding my son who was born in 2022.
Specifically:
What went through your mind when I told you I was pregnant?
How did you feel when you found out he was a boy?
What was going through your mind when I would randomly start crying? were you ready to run? lol
How did you feel or what were you thinking when you heard his heartbeat for the first time?
How was it for you caring for me while I was pregnant and taking on more responsibilites and working a full time job?
When it was getting closer to due date time, were you nervous?
When we went to the hospital to have a baby how was your stay? having to watch me go through being induced etc.
How did you feel when it was time to take our newborn home? were you nervous?
How was it staying home with a newborn, sleep deprived and going back to work?
When I left Luca for the first time on a trip to target and I called you crying, what was going through your mind?
When it was finally time to stop breastfeeding and a left to Vegas for 3 days, how did that go for you?
It was A LOT of questions and he gave me answers…
I am going to split this into parts because It is quite the read and I dont want overwhelm my readers.
So here we go:
Navigating the Final Feeding Hurdle
A couple of months later, we were both back to work, and things started to normalize with our work schedules. The last hurdle we had to clear from a feeding perspective was getting Luca off of breastfeeding. We had been procrastinating this because of how crazy he would get at night when my wife denied him the breast.
We had a perfect opportunity come up, with my wife going to Vegas with her mom and sisters for four days. I stayed home with Luca and took the challenge on myself, which was only fair with all that my wife had done leading up to that point. All jokes aside, it was the least I could do.
The first night was the roughest. He slept next to me and kept trying to latch onto me because he thought I was mama. He got more and more upset every time he realized I wasn't mama and he couldn't have what he wanted. We didn't get much sleep that night—and honestly, not much more the next night either.
By the third night, he started to get used to me being the one next to him and expecting to get nothing. We finally got some rest. By the time my wife got back home, he was good to go. And then it was my turn to go to Vegas for work—and to enjoy myself a little bit.
A Personal Reflection on Pregnancy, Birth, and Life After
To summarize my experience through this pregnancy, birth, and post-birth journey with my wife—it was a little bit of everything. The most challenging times for me were the first couple of weeks, which would be the no-sleep phase.
After that, it was more about the amount of time I had to spend with the baby that I could not give to my first two children. It's still a challenge to this day as I try to coach my kids in soccer and volleyball while also trying to watch Luca or find a babysitter. Or as I try to work on Fridays from home while my wife is at work and the kids keep coming into my office while I'm on calls every five minutes.
It's definitely still a challenge, but it’s sort of become the norm. It’s gotten a little easier as they’ve gotten older, but I try not to rush it. I rushed the first two because it was so crazy I never stopped to appreciate the moments. I'm doing my best not to do that this time around.
I've fallen so deeply in love with my youngest, and I don't want to rush it and suddenly he’s five or six when I blink. He's the cutest, sweetest, funniest little boy, and I couldn't be more happy he is here and a part of our lives.
I'm so grateful that I have the loving wife that I have. I never have to worry about her taking care of her end, as she has even outdone me as a parent to my own kids. She takes them to the library and reads with them. She makes them snacks so that when they get home from school, they aren't eating crappy foods. She has them doing math and journal time while I work on Mondays.
She is so wonderful and is everything I saw on our very first date. I will never forget—there was a baby girl on the other side of our booth who kept staring and smiling at her, and it was the expression and smile back from my now-wife that was everything to me.
It's held true to this day. She is an amazing person and an even more amazing mother. It's not something you teach. It's in her heart.
I'm so lucky. :)
Stay tuned for next weeks blog: Add-in potential, a view of all the possible add ins to your keepsake.
