As a first time father it is easy to just go with the checklist that the hospital provides so you know what to do when your baby arrives. You can plan and run through the scenario of everything that will happen and how it will happen. But all that gets thrown out the window when you get the call that it is finally ‘go time’.
If your wife (or girlfriend or baby momma or that one girl from Tinder) is a scheduled birth, you don’t get to partake in the sheer hysteria of remembering what to bring, forgetting what to remember to bring, and who to call and who not to call.
I remember the day our daughter was born, I had been driving my wife to work for the past week and it’s a good 40 minute commute just to her work. I know, I could have been husband of the year if I drove her because that was the nice thing to do, but she worked in a shady part of town and I didn’t want to leave her car there if she ever went into labor.
Insurance companies and police reports? No thanks.
Anyway, I dropped her off at work and went back to the house because I was working from home at the time. I figured it would be a nice relaxing day at home of conference calls (Xbox) and doing reports (napping) but I get a call a couple of hours later. “Hey, so I think my water just broke. Can you come pick me up?” Apparently a woman’s water breaking isn’t like when your water heater breaks – some women really don’t know if it’s happened. But I go into full freak out mode, grab the “hospital bag” which was just a plastic Target bag crammed with stuff still in it’s package and I was out the door.
So here’s my list {for Dads} in surviving the big day:
- Eat a big breakfast. I didn’t get a chance to eat so on the way to the hospital so we stopped at McDonald’s so I could get a Big Mac. I know, husband of the year. But I was starving and I had no idea if I was going to get a chance to eat again anytime soon.
- Bring gum or breath mints. Chances are your wife will be pulling you in close to her face so she can scream and yell at you for putting her in so much pain. You don’t want her or yourself to have bad breath.
- Wear comfortable shoes. You’ll be walking around a lot to get things moving. Plus, you don’t want to be wearing sandals when things start coming out.
- Bring a pillow and a blanket. You’ll be sleeping on a hospital pull out couch. Unless you’re giving birth at Hotel ZaZa, expect to be sleeping on something closer to your futon in college.
So to recap, make sure you have a full stomach because you don’t want to miss a moment because you have step out to find the nearest vending machine. Make sure you have fresh breath because you’re going to want kiss your wife as many times as possible while she’s giving birth. You’re going to want to kiss your new baby for the first time. And, if you’re lucky like me and have a hot resident doctor attending, you’re going to want to kiss her too.
Wear comfortable shoes because you’re going to want to cherish every step you take on your walk. I still remember feeling the warmth of my wife’s arm tucked inside my arm as I helped her walk outside. I still remember the perfect spring day in March with the sun out melting the snow that was still on the ground from our freak Texas snow storm a couple days before. It will be the last quiet moment before all heck breaks loose.
And lastly, make sure you have a comfortable pillow. Chances are you’re going to lie on that crappy couch and just stare at how beautiful and perfect your wife is as she holds your first child. Cherish your new family.
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By day, Jackson is an account manager but as soon as the work bell rings he assumes the position of nose wiper, short order cook and playground referee. Married to Dallas Moms Blog contributor Cassidy, Jackson blogs at Jack and the Baby Talk, providing a dad’s perspective on everything from watching his wife become a mother to tales of his daughter’s four year old antics.
