Ok, Caryn is asleep and Ben is in a serious food coma. I wanted to give a little info to the clueless men out there who may father a child someday. First off, there is nothing disgusting about child birth. It is truly the most amazing event I have ever witnessed. Most of us have seen "The Miracle of Life" video. I agree, it's pretty gross. However, it is a completely different experience when it's your wife and your baby. There are details I will leave out of this very public blog however. Child birth is an incredibly intimate process to be shared by a mother, father, and baby...and the OBGYN, 2 nurses, a 7 member NIC-U team, 3 residents, an anaesthesiologist, a few techs, and a partridge in a pear tree. That's it. Having said that, my advice is to take take in as much as possible during the delivery.
Remember, although they haven't met face to face, your baby momma has known this baby for the last 9 months. There's a strong intimate bond between the two of them that you don't really feel yet. Even with the delivery, future mom goes through all the work, pain, and struggle to bring him into the world. The bond for me started as soon as I could see the top of the head coming out of her "hey now." To watch this kid come out is to experience the last 9 months in fast forward. You don't feel the pain directly but you see it on her face, by the way she squeezes your hand, by the look of "holy shit" on your newborn child's face. Men are visual people. We need to see something to understand the feeling behind it. Sleep at the hospital in that uncomfortable chair, wake up at night to watch your baby feed, do as much as possible. Unfortunately, one of the few jobs you can do is change dirty diapers. (the first diaper Caryn changed was on the day I had to go back to work). The good news is that the poo doesn't really smell...yet. In a strange way, you get excited that your son has just blasted out one of the loudest farts you've ever heard; and I lived in a Frat house for 2 years!
The last thing I want to mention is the sleep deprivation. Hands down, the single piece of advice I was given before Bennet arrived was "get your sleep now." We all know what it feels like to be sleep deprived. Whether it was all nighters in college, 24 hour parties, or a stressful job, you all know what I'm talking about. However, think of how you feel after only 2 hours of sleep. Then do it again the next night. Then, for 8 days straight, never sleep for longer than 2.5 hours at any given time. You lose track of what day it is, forget to eat, start talking to shower curtains. To this day, Caryn still wakes up every 2-3 hours to feed Ben...EVERY NIGHT. Women are amazing creatures. I have a new found respect for Caryn and all women in general after this. Remember, if men had to deliver babies and breast feed, there would be no more babies.
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