New Dad — First 24 hours

After a new baby, here’s first hand account from the dads perspective

As my wife was in her 39th week and thought her water broke on the Thursday of her 39th week. Despite not having any other symptoms such as consistent contracttions — we went the next day to the OB GYN. They did confirm the water broke and told us to go back to the hospital — we would induce if necessary.

Within a few moments of getting in the hospital — my wife was having contractions too fast. Long story short — we had a C Section.

As my son came out — and I saw him come out of my wife’s stomach- I was wondering if this was where the life changing music starts playing and tears start flowing. It didn’t happen that way but it was definitely an emotional moment — being relieved that my wife was good and we had a healthy baby.

First 24 hours…

Baby was born at 5:05PM. Within seconds — he was check out from head to toe then back to head. As soon as everything checked out — he was sent to another room ( I followed) for weigh in, length measurement, vaccines, bath and swaddle. The swaddle will be any dads best friend moving forward.

That night — there are a lot of checks that are done to the baby to examine the baby. We decided to keep the baby in our room and have it stay close. Baby woke up every 3hours when it was hungry or lost its swaddle. Other than that — nothing else happened. 2 diaper changes … thats it. Recommendation: Do not try and keep the baby in your room at night during your stay in the hospital. Keep the baby there till the last night feeding — then let the nursery take them. This is the last few days of unencumbered sleep you will have for a long time. AND — your wife will need her rest — otherwise her days will be very miserable and so will yours.

The next morning was Saturday and we hung out … baby was breastfeeding and tearing up some nipples — more on this later.

For the next 4 days, we would be in the rhythm of feeding every 3 hours, swaddling, changing diapers & repeat. All meals were in the hospital and since my wife had a C section — we had to stay there for 4 days. The baby sleeps for 20–22 hours of the day so when he does wake — its for a few minutes to look around.

On Tuesday — we took the baby home and the real fun started.