Comments (8)

By Real Dad, June 27, 2010 8:39 pm

We are only 2 weeks away from the new arrival to our family and we have finally begun to act like a baby is on its way. The last few days have been busy and actually included some preparation for the baby. I washed a stroller that has basically been sitting in a garage for 6 years. This stroller was given to us when Nicky was born and was only used for him because we purchased a tandem stroller when Jordan was born. The tandem stroller came in handy again 1 year later when Corey was born (yeah yeah I know). I also washed 2 Pack-N-Plays, 1 is ours (one of the few things I didn’t throw away after Corey was born) and the other was given to us. We are keeping the 1 in better condition. Now we just have to start washing all of the baby clothes that were given to us. Not that we don’t trust that they were washed before they were given to us but you would wash them too, even if it were family that gave them to you (sorry everyone).

The wife has also been trying to get our kids to be a little more independent. You see, the wife has had a little issue with doing too much for the kids and with the kids. By this I mean she is the one that cleans the mess in their rooms or any room for that matter, after they are done playing. She will pick up the kids clothes after they throw them on the floor. She will cater to every whim and just spoil them rotten. She also spends almost every moment of the day

So proud the she made her bed

with them, occupying them rather than letting them occupy themselves. I am not saying that as parents we shouldn’t do anything other then this but I think that kids should be taught responsibility and a little independence and at an early age. I think she now sees that her life at home will be easier if she makes it easier rather than more difficult. If you want to find out how I would do it just ready my post entitled Introducing #4. I still am trying to figure a way to do everything I said! Anyway, I see the difference in the kids and they are actually starting to respect each other and their belongings. This has also been an issue but I will save that for a future post.

I actually had to stop writing several times as we made our 3^rd attempt at letting Jordan sleep in the boy’s room as a special treat. The first attempt didn’t go well

Just a goofball

so we broke up the party. Attempt #2 faired a little better and we didn’t separate them but tonight they just got out of hand so I just sent Jordan to her own room.

The wife is hoping not to go early or at least before July 4^th. She wants to make one last trip to visit her family before the

I didn't document the bed but I got this!

new one arrives. As of the last visit to the doctor, she isn’t dilated so he will check her again later this week. If she is dilated, he will recommend that we don’t make the small road trip. I mean after all, since this is #4, I expect labor to be short and for this baby to just pop out like a fart. Maybe that is just wishful thinking because I never heard the wife fart (in her sleep doesn’t count).

Ok I am off to eat the cherry pie I just baked. That is right….I made cherry pie since my friend couldn’t make it to a bar for a few beers with me. I also cooked dinner. Pretty big disparity there but I don’t give a shit. I was listening to Slipknot while I did both so it cancels out!

Comments (4)

By Real Dad, June 14, 2010 9:15 pm

Last week I received a call from the wife while I was at work. In her message she told me that I received a certified letter and had to go to the post office to retrieve it.  I didn’t think much of it and certainly didn’t rush to the Post Office to get it. Finally after two (2) days of the wife busting my stones, I left work early enough to make it to the post office. The letter was from an attorney’s office in Knoxville, Tennessee. I came home and put the letter on top of the refrigerator thinking it couldn’t be a good thing, so why open it?

Later that night my wife yells my name and tells me to hurry into the kitchen. She was reading the letter. In short the letter told me that I was left $750,000 by a relative of my late father. This money was meant for him when this

It is raining money!!

relative died but since my father died first, the money goes to me. I never heard of this relative but my father wasn’t close with his family and only talked about a handful of them. My heart was pounding so hard but my wife didn’t believe it for one moment because I have two brothers and there was no mention of either of them. I immediately called my mother to ask about this relative and she told me that she vaguely remembered someone by that name but wasn’t sure. I immediately visited the website of the law firm. It seemed legit and they have been in business for 100 years or some shit. I then performed an internet search for law firms in Knoxville and this firm ranked 1^st. HOLY SHIT!

In the morning I called the firm, as they asked me to do in the letter and I asked for the attorney that sent the letter. I left a message with her assistant and within 30 minutes she returned my call and reiterated everything in the letter. She told me that after signing some papers, I can have a bank check sent to me or have the money deposited directly into my account! HOLY SHIT AGAIN!!! She told me that she would over-night the paperwork and I should return it as soon as possible. I also asked her why my brothers were not mentioned and she said she didn’t know.

I sat there with my wife in amazement. Hell…we are in some debt (not much by most accounts but debt nonetheless), live in an apartment and have a 4^th child on the way. This money is just an unbelievable stroke of luck however the direct result of someone else’s demise (or 2 if you count my father but don’t worry Dad because I have it all worked out!). The first thing we did was plan to split it with my brothers and mother then pay off our debt and then buy a house. Now we don’t have to move as far away and could afford something closer to both of our families. I also couldn’t get out of my head the fact that I can probably buy a house that has a “Daddy Only” area with a big screen television, kick-ass surround sound system and video games galore! Holy shit…HOLY SHT….HOLY SHIT!!

As the wife and I are calling everyone we knew, I heard a little voice and it sounded like my youngest. He wasn’t walking into the room so the wife and I continued making our phone calls. I heard it again. So I hung-up the phone and was quiet. I heard it clear as a bell….”Daddy, wake-up. You have to make my strawberry milk”.  SON OF A

Daddy....I want my strawberry milk!

BITCH! I never wanted to punch one of my kids before but I certainly did this day! That’s my luck….none at all.

I don’t dream often but I did dream twice in the last week or so. This one I share with you but not the other so go away because I am pissed!

Comments (5)

By Real Dad, May 17, 2010 10:11 pm

I really don’t have anything to write about. It’s been an extremely busy past few weeks. I have worked the last 2 out of 3 Saturdays and the one weekend I didn’t work was the weekend of Soccer, Shootings, A Carnival, A Birthday Party and Mother’s Day. It had gotten to the point in which my back yard had grass that was 8”+ high and my car hasn’t been washed in months. I have been saying for 3 weeks that I would clean-up the yard and wash my car but I couldn’t seem to put aside the 2-3 hours for each of those chores.

Luckily I was able to get the yard done this weekend. A little was done on Saturday after work and I finished the rest

This would be awesome!!

Sunday morning. After finishing the yard, the entire family packed in the mini-van and made a quick trip to the store to pick up supplies for my son’s school project. I am not sure what he will use it for but he has to make one of those yellow smiley faces attached to a small wooden handle. I am not sure how you feel about it but to me the yellow smiley face represents tripping on acid. I do not know why I think that but I do. A bunch of first grade kids walking around with these smiling yellow faces would just freak me out….even not being on acid.

The wife is 7 months along now and she is having the not so bad days and some pretty shitty days. Lately the baby is throwing fits in there. Her stomach contorts, becomes rock hard and looks freaky. She has also been experiencing some nerve pain which she did with the last one. She gets these pains that shoot up her neck and/or from her ear to her lip or her neck to her ear than up into her head. She has talked to the Doctor about it and he of course said that there isn’t much that can be done so she has to grin and take it.

I am still not sure how we are going to pull off raising 4 kids. Financially we are struggling (in the red for the first time ever) and things aren’t getting any easier. Thankfully we have great family and we are getting all of the hand-me-downs they own. I guess that is what we get for donating ALL of the infant crap we had after the lil one was born. We have also been getting a package or two of diapers every few weeks from my mother-in-law, so that is good. Since we know we are having another boy, I have been hoping that the wife gives birth to an 18 year old that wants to go straight into the military. Paid housing, clothing and healthcare all in one shot AND I will be a proud Daddy that can say my newborn is doing something honorable.

Seriously, I recall shopping with the wife before we had our first. We planned and starting buying things months in advance. I actually researched different bottles and what made them different from each other. We wouldn’t take a single item from family that was a hand-me-down because our kid deserved everything new. We used fancy diaper creams, a Diaper Genie, a wipes warmer, researched toys, baby-proofed our home and watched over him like hawks.

Yeah...like he is getting this stuff!

Now, we have a bunch of bottles given to us that we haven’t even looked at yet. Why? Because it doesn’t matter, they are bottles. We have no toys or any other baby related item except what has been given to us. We do not even have a room to put him so he will be shacking up with us in our room. Ohh..no crib so a Pack-N-Play will have to do just as it did with the lil one. Shit….we don’t have that either….I gave that away too!

Comments (11)

By Real Dad, April 21, 2010 9:56 pm

I felt it time to do my first review. I toiled long and hard over what to review and fatherhood was the only thing I could come up with. Fatherhood may not be something I am good at but I have a lot of experience with 3 kids and 1 on the way. I affectionately refer to the number of kids as 3.7 as my wife is due in July.

Fatherhood began for me a little over 7 years ago when my wife told me she was pregnant. I was very excited and a little nervous while my wife as very nervous and a little excited. I made it a point to be at every doctor visit and I mean every visit! I thought it would be amazing and wonderful to have a little me or little wife running around. When delivery day came, I was nervous as could be and my wife’s labor and delivery was brutal. I think it totaled 25 hours or so. I should have known then what was in my future!

I found fatherhood to consist of the following:

• Your life is no longer your own
• Your life will never be the same
• Cleaning the dirty ass of another human being
• Getting baby shit under your fingernails
• Getting pissed on
• Talking like an idiot to a baby that doesn’t understand you regardless of how you talk
• Making a multitude of additional trips to the store for various baby items
• Being amazed at every “first” of your new baby
• Bragging to anyone that makes believe they are listening about how amazing your son is
• Getting the daily run-down from your wife when you get home from work
• Always worrying if your baby farts and shits regularly (yes it’s a Daddy thing)
• Wondering where your wife went
• Remembering  the days of constant sex
• Daydreaming of the day you may have sex again
• Trying to figure out why the baby is crying
• Running to the hospital when your son tumbles down 13 stairs (hey it only happened once)
• Not going out with the wife and/or friends like you used to
• Having another kid
• Thinking “What the hell is wrong with us?”
• Not being as excited about the “firsts” as you were for the first
• Feeding and clothing another person
• Thinking “I hope my wife leaves me alone today”
• Saying the diapers can be re-used because you don’t want to run to the store
• Asking if the kids really require food
• Watching the savings account you complied for a house dwindle away
• Not going out without at least one kid on your hip except to work
• Not immediately running to the crying 2^nd child as you did the first
• Watching the medical bills pile up
• Getting sick when prior to kids you weren’t sick for over 10 years
• Another friggin kid!
• Not caring if the kid farts or shits regularly
• What? Are there kids crying somewhere???
• Food….there better be enough for me
• Saying: “Damn, I am sorry babe but I have to work late”
• Telling the wife: “I know he is only 3 weeks old but he can feed himself if we teach him”
• Figuring out which kid doesn’t get attention today?
• Asking: “Do they really have to go to the doctor?”
• Hoping the kids doesn’t walk as it is one less thing to worry about
• Praying that the kid doesn’t talk as there is more than enough noise in the house
• Looking for the money you HAD in the savings account last year
• Having a wife that is losing her mind after being trapped in a small apartment with 3 little kids all day
• Sending your 2 oldest (which are only 6 and 4) to a private school because the public schools here blow
• Wondering how are we sending these kids to private school when we have NO MONEY
• Knowing the 3^rd kid will not go to private school
• Hoping the wife doesn’t talk to me
• Hoping the kids forget that I am their father
• ANOTHER FRIGGIN KID IS ON THE WAY????????!!!!!!????

HOLY FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That my friends…..is FATHERHOOD!

…….and I wouldn’t change a friggin thing!

I love them with all of my heart!

Comments (5)

By Real Dad, January 23, 2010 11:33 pm

My wife and I are into the show “Big Love” and we watch it together every week. Before I actually saw the first episode, I thought to myself that polygamy sounded like a great life. One man and multiple women; how can that be bad? Well…I really thought about this and I have the pros and cons all figured out.

Cons

• More than one woman in your life
• To many children
• You need a lot of money to maintain the family
• You have to lie to everyone outside of your home(s)
• Multiple women asking when will you be home from work
• Multiple women telling you how hectic their day was while you worked
  

  Should I enter the world of polygamy?

• More than one woman in your life (oops already said that)
• Multiple women telling you that you got fat
• You will need a bus or a convoy of cars when you go on vacation
• You will probably be the #1 recipient of Xanax
• You may also be the #1 recipient of Zoloft
• More than likely you will have a lot of friggin children
• Never have time to yourself (like that matters after you have 1 kid and 1 wife)
• You increase the chances of having an ugly child
• More than one woman in your life (sorry)
• A house/houses full of hormonal women
• You have to figure out how many of your wives will work and how many will stay home to raise the kids
• Apparently there is a hierarchy amongst the wives which causes competition (that may be a pro)
• If you go “old school” your wives will dress like it is 1850
• If they dress like it is 1850 they probably won’t be shaving much
• Because of the women’s movement of the early 20^th century and child labor laws, I will still have to cook or clean something

You get then point, I hope. There are many cons to the whole idea of polygamy but there are some benefits:

Pros

• Sex with multiple women

Well that is really it! I think the pros out-weigh the cons!  We men are such simple creatures.

In reality, I think it would be a good idea only if I can be the undisputable religious “prophet” of a mass amount of people. That would be cool. I can imagine being the supreme ruler of a community of people that just worship me in every way.  I would just be the coolest leader.  I would be sure that all of the women show me affection and swoon over everything I do or say. The men would just have to step aside when they see me. Children would not be allowed to look at me of course, unless I speak to them which would be rare. I would allow people to do whatever they wanted as long as it didn’t interfere with my own prosperity. Wow…I would be awesome. Is anyone willing to join me? Hahahaha

Ok enough of me dreaming, my 3 year just pissed all over my bathroom!

Comments (13)

By Real Dad, January 4, 2010 10:48 pm

Alright, the holidays are over and we are back to the daily grind. I had the last 1.5 weeks off of work and spent every waking second with my family. That isn’t a bad thing but I will say it again, I do not envy stay-at-home parents! My wife decided to be a stay-at-home mom before we had Nicky but planned on returning to work at some point in the near

#4 Baking nicely

future. That didn’t happen because we had a 2nd and 3rd child within a very short time frame. Lately she has been working part-time at night at a local catering hall but I think that has stopped as business hasn’t been good. It really sucks since she found out she was pregnant with #4 right before Thanksgiving! That’s right, ANOTHER BABY!

I know that this whole baby thing is a blessing (or so I hear) but I am really having a hard time with this. We currently have 3 kids that we struggle to provide for. We do not have a fancy place to live, nice furniture (actually we do not have enough furniture to furnish every room), my wife and I do not go out (husband and wife time), we do not socialize with anyone except family, we send 2 of our kids to a private school that we cannot afford because the local schools suck, the wife and I go without buying much needed items such as new clothes, we do not take vacations and having 3 children ages 6, 4 and 3 just eats at your last nerve in general. Now I am not saying that I do not love my family because I certainly do but it isn’t easy and it is not all happy-happy-joy-joy!

We all have our issues and I am sure that I sound like a whining baby and I really don’t care as it is my blog and my rules . My wife and I have had a long-standing disagreement regarding the amount of children we should have. I wanted a vasectomy for several years now but she was against anything so definite. We explored our options and settled on birth control pills but she stopped taking them over the summer (why I am not sure and right now it doesn’t matter). Recently we were a little careless and maybe forgot the whole birth control idea, so we are certainly both culpable and I understand that. Knowing the error of our ways is great but it does not help me with the future of what I have in front of me right now.

How will we afford to raise the newest addition to our family? This isn’t 1910 so I cannot pull Nicky out of school to work in the local factory for 18 hours a day or send Jordan to harvest the crops! I was thinking of pulling straws to

The way it was.......

determine which kid I would sell on the “black market” but I came to the conclusion that

A different time...and not worth repeating

wouldn’t go over well with the general public or law-enforcement officials. I even thought about becoming a pimp and “turning out” the wife but let’s face it, she is pregnant now and after she gives birth she will have to take care of #4. So what am I to do? I guess just the best I can.

I have a feeling that I will get a lot of flak for this post and I am prepared. As I told my wife, I don’t want to hear all of the “Oh this is great” or “What is the difference between 3 kids and 4 kids?”. It isn’t a happy time when you are completely clueless of where the money will come from to raise a family of 4 kids without some type of drastic change. By drastic change I mean pulling my kids out of their school and moving to a place in which the public schools are much better. The problem with that is we have to move far from where we are and my wife has been against being further then a short drive from her parents or my mine. I am also fully aware that some couples struggle to conceive a child and many view children as blessings

Just a little dream!

but we all have our struggles and this is mine. I know this sounds horrible but it is REAL and this is Real Dads Hangout; I tell it like it is! Unless someone jumps out of the corner of the delivery room with television cameras and a giant check with a lot of 0’s, I don’t want to hear it! I will of course fall in love with this baby and do everything I can for him or her and that goes without saying. It is the road that must be traveled by my family that I am a loathing. It will be long and bumpy so I hope we all come out in the end with all of our limbs and our sanity!

BRING IT YOU LIL CHILDREN BASTARDS, BRING IT! DADDY IS READY FOR FRIGGIN WAR!

Comments (7)

By Real Dad, October 27, 2009 10:27 pm

Last year Nicky was having a tough time with reading. Carrie and I struggled to help him learn his “sight words” and as a dad, I struggled with feeling that I didn’t do enough to help him. For the new parents, “sight words”  are words that kids should recognize visually without having to spell them out.  Some examples of these words are: who, what, the, at, to, there and so on. Carrie worked very hard over the summer to help get our son where he needed to be before beginning the 1st grade. She sat with him every day and went over his letters and words while I read to him as often as possible.

Nicky and his proud Dad at a game last summer

He wasn’t quite there when the school year began last month but he was certainly a lot closer to where the other kids were with their reading skills.

Nicky’s teacher is great and has a lot of patience with him. He is also pulled out of class two times per week for an extra 30 minutes of help strictly for reading by another teacher. In just 2 months, Nicky’s reading ability has improved so much that he continually reads books. He is always walking around with a book in his hand and goes to extraordinary lengths to hide these books from his sister and brother. He mostly reads children’s books that are age appropriate as well as various Star Wars books that are meant for adults but he tries his hardest with these.  This dad couldn’t be any prouder because I was not and still am not a big reader, so I encourage him all of the time.

The interest in reading is not only do to the fact that he can NOW read but also the types of books he is reading. Some of the books he is reading were given to him by a classmate and the others we purchased because a classmate brought them in to school and showed him “how cool” these new books were. I thought it might be worth mentioning these books because we also think these books are great from a parents perspective. I even found myself chuckling here and there when he read them to me. I have included the links to Amazon to make it easy in the event you want to purchase them or read their short description.

Ready Freddy! Tooth Trouble (Ready, Freddy!)
Ready, Freddy!: Stop That Hamster
Firehouse Fun (Ready, Freddy!)
Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-ha-ha! (Junie B. Jones, No. 26)
Junie B. Jones Is a Beauty Shop Guy (Junie B. Jones, No. 11)
Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed (Junie B. Jones, No.
Junie B., First Grader: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (P.S. So Does May) (Junie B. Jones, No. 25)

He absolutely loves these books and this was kid that just a few months ago would not look at a book’s cover, never-mind open it up. Maybe your kids will enjoy them as much as our son has. I cannot wait to share with him my coveted The Kiss Album Focus, Vol. 1: Kings of the Night Time World, 1972-82but I guess that will come in time!

Comments (0)

By Real Dad, September 4, 2009 9:29 pm

Here it is folks, the last weekend of summer. A time for family to spend one more weekend  grilling. This week has been a tremendously tough one and the weekend is eagerly anticipated! This past week I transferred to the company headquarters (60 miles away), worked at least 10 hours each day and Carrie had a difficult week with the kids which included Corey having a tooth extracted. Ouch! He was restrained and given gas to sedate him so it turned out not as horrific as my wife thought it would be. In this case, it paid off having sleep apnea because she told Corey the mask at the dentist is just like the one Daddy wears to bed. He bought it however this Daddy wishes his mask was like the one Corey used at the dentist! I wish I had a funny video to show everyone of how “stoned” he was but I wasn’t there and Carrie doesn’t think like me….sorry.

I am hoping the weather holds up this weekend as our weekend is planned to be spent in Long Island with my wife’s family. Lil’ Papa took Nicky and Jordy with him yesterday so we are meeting them tomorrow after I do somethings around the house. There is just not enough time during the week!

Next week is school…..YEH! I cannot wait for school. I already posted my feelings on the start of school so I will not say it all again but the feelings are bitter sweet. I will be broke and penniless soon as my kids go to private school and we cannot afford it by any means but my wife will get a break which means I get a break. I will let you read between those lines.

The school system in my town sucks for the most part and the district I live in has the worst school therefore we refuse to send my son there. We have to get out of this town but will not be able to do it any time soon. We made a request to the board of education asking them to allow my son to attend another school and we were refused so we kept him in the catholic school. Hopefully we can swing one more year but now Jordan is enrolled in Pre-K classes…shoot me now! We may be living in a cardboard box soon but if I still have my notebook and I can find a semi-clean alley behind a wi-fi location, I will be happy. Oh yeah…..as long as I have my wife and kids too! Was that believable?

Comments (2)

By Real Dad, August 16, 2009 12:14 am

Since I entered fatherhood on July 23, 2003, I have thought back a lot to my childhood. I always saw my father as larger then life. I never looked at him as a person; he was my dad. He was the guy that taught me things, played with me, helped me, yelled at me, punished me (and I deserved the yelling and the punishments), hugged me and kissed me. I never thought about: what he liked to do, what kind of music he listened to, who his friends were and/or his childhood. He was just DAD!

I look at pictures from when I was a kid and I see my father then I say to myself “Holy crap! I am older then he was in this picture!” and I say that often. I get nostalgic and remember the times when my father was the top of the line; you just couldn’t get any better then that. As I grew older, I of course got to know him as a person and still saw the wonderful things but also had been given an insight into the not so wonderful. You know, the things that make us human.

Being a 35 year old father of 3, I look within myself. I remember being a kid and wanting to go fishing with my father, play Track-Ball (DO ANY OF YOU REMEMBER THAT?) with him and just looking up to him in every way. And I ask, How did he feel about himself?

My father, my son Corey (the youngest), and mother - taken about 1 week before my father died

I was not a perfect child and had my share of trouble. I listened to heavy metal (and still do!), had an awful mullet, wore flannel shirts and work boots, smoked and drank a few things I probably shouldn’t have at a young age, strolled in at 6:30 am after a night partying with the guys, hurt people’s feelings, lied to my parents, lied to some girlfriends but not my wife of course, and all of those other things that most guys do when they are young. I also wasted a lot of money on needless things, worked a few jobs that sucked, owned a few cool cars, was close friends with a lot of people I really do not see or talk to anymore and miss much of the freedom I once had.

None of these things matter to my kids. To them I am dad but all of those things make me the dad they know. I am the best man they know. I am the one they look up to and I am the one they see as “larger then life” just as I did with my father. I can still be all of those things I mentioned above but now, before all of that, I AM DAD!

Comments (0)

By Real Dad, August 14, 2009 6:23 pm

Being a father was something I really looked forward to for nine months. One night in July of 2003, my wife kicked me out of my bed for excessive snoring. She was ready to pop and in no mood to hear my house shaking snorts, grunts and gasps. So being the wonderful husband I am (I was actually annoyed but happy to leave the room after the six elbows to the side), I left the room for the comfy couch!

Here I am in lala land and I hear a faint voice saying “Mike, I think my water broke”. I jumped up and ran to the bed.

I placed my hand right in the middle of the spot and smelled my hand for pee because we all know pregnant women cannot always hold it. IT WASN’T PEE! So off we go to the hospital and yes we were all packed already. Fatherhood, here I come!

Once at the hospital, the anxiety really kicks in for me and my wife is not having contractions but since her water broke and she tested positive for strep, they begin to induce labor. Approximately 12 hours or more pass before she can have an epidural. After multiple epidural injections and a total of 22 hours of induced labor, my wife was instructed to push by the doctor. My wife begins pushing and her mother is in the room to help keep her calm. During the 2+ hours of my wife pushing, I am routinely asked if I want to venture out from behind the safety of the bed and sheets blocking my view to witness the birth of my child. I of course answered: “NO THANK YOU!” each and every time. Since my mother-in-law was allowed in the room, my wife really wasn’t the nasty mother giving birth but rather calm given the situation. She was truly unbelievable because by the time my son Nicholas was born, approximately 25 hours had past!

25 Friggin Hours!

As soon as my son is born they immediately laid him on my wife’s chest. They ask us for his name in which we quickly said “Nicholas Edward” (named after each grandfather) and my mother-in-law blurts out in the middle of this “Do you have a hat for this kid?”.  Ok…let me explain this: Since my son was in the birth canal so damn long and a suction cup was used, his head was misshaped with a big purple lump on top! Anyway, my wife is of course sweating and tired so my mother-in-law asks me to get my wife a towel wet with cold water. Unfortunately for me, the sink was located in such a position that I would have to walk across the front of the bed. I was not doing that so I began to move my wife’s bed away from the wall so I could squeeze behind it and my mother yells at me. I stated my case, she called me a few choice words and tells me to go the other way.

I thought about it for a few moments and said to myself “you can do this, just do not look anywhere but at the sink”. I began to walk slowly towards the front of the bed, keeping my eye on the sink to my left. As I round the corner of the bed, I see a blur of red and then I slip! In the middle of the slip, I noticed a steel tray on a table

Imagine 5x this amount, if you are not a father....Uuuggghhh

with what looked like grape jelly in it (it was of course the placenta). It looked like someone took a big bottle of jelly and emptied it into a baking pan.Yes, my knees got weak and a nurse grabbed me and helped me to the sink. I toughened up, got the wet towel and walked to my mother-in-laws side of the bed! Hahaha.

The doctor then notices that my son isn’t breathing easy and they rush him off to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It turns out that one of his lungs was surrounded by fluid causing difficulty breathing. The fluid disappeared after 2-3 days and he was released.

It was truly an amazing experience. I was as happy as any one man could be. I was of course ignorant of the fact that this little baby would be relying on my wife and me for everything.

Fatherhood had certainly entered my life, full force!