Well, that was quite some adventure.
It’s currently 10:14am on Friday 22nd May, 2015. Helen has ventured out of the Birthcare room for the first time since we arrived, and is down on Level 1 for a physio course to help her manage her pelvic floor. Just writing that sentence is an indication of how interested I am now in all manner of things that I wasn’t before. All of a sudden I’m fascinated by birth stories, lengths of labour, burping techniques, and even the colour and texture of poo.
Anyway, cut to the chase Red, we have a little boy! I am a Dad, Helen is a Mum, and we have a son. We named him yesterday: Lachlan Matai Nicholson. Officially, he was born at 3:49am on Wednesday 20th May, weighing 9 pounds 12 ounces. He’s lying in his cot at the moment, making funny grizzly noises. I’m keeping one eye on him and typing really fast. I really hope he doesn’t wake up before Helen gets back, because I have a funny feeling that no matter what I’m selling, he’s not buying. He’s only interested in the boob. Do I blame him? Of course not, but it does make me fairly redundant.
It’s been a totally mad couple of days. We’ve been inundated with visitors, which has been cool, because it’s nice to know how excited people are to meet the wee fella, but we might’ve overdone it yesterday, especially with what was to come, which I don’t think Helen or I had any clue about! More on that later.
On Wednesday, when we arrived here at Birthcare, the three sets of parentals visited. That was pretty cool, they were all quite stoked. And then yesterday, we had Katelyn come to help in the morning, and then Paddy (LMC) visited, and we asked her permission to name our son Lachlan, because that’s her son’s name! We’d been a bit finicky about boys names, so it wasn’t until mid-labour, when she was telling us about her kids, and she mentioned her son was named Lachlan, that Helen and I looked at each other and exchanged knowing glances. We liked it so much we had to steal it. We gave him the middle name Matai because it’s the king of the forest, and makes really good wood. It’s also, according to Jenny, ‘Gift of the Gods’ in Hebrew, so we’ve got all our bases covered I reckon.
Anyway, after Paddy left we had the lady from Helen’s probiotic study come, and did an allergy test on me. Turns out I’m sensitive to grass cuttings! Can’t see that being an issue in the long-term though. Then, throughout the course of the day we had a great Facetime with Pam, and then visits from Carol, Nikki, Kate, Joe, Jess Steele, Anthea, Eileen and Sophie. By the end of it all, Helen and I were exhausted. Like, can’t-form-proper-sentences exhausted. But we’d also been showered in love, flowers, and presents. So not all bad :)
Helen’s had a pretty rough night. We didn’t know about this, but apparently the second night is notoriously difficult. Baby is still sorting everything out (I can’t even imagine what a mindfuck the real world must be after hanging out in the womb for so long!) and Helen’s milk was starting to arrive, in semi-clump form. Mmm. I feel kinda awkward sleeping through the night, but it’s hardly like I’m going to be much use, and I figure I’ll be better support throughout the day if I’ve had a decent sleep.
The whole thing still feels quite surreal to me. When he arrived, my immediate response was like, “Well, that’s amazing and cool, but he doesn’t really look like me or Helen?” so it was a strange thing really. I’m not sure what I expected - mountains crumbling and seas roaring - I mean they say you fall in love immediately, ‘never loved something as much in your life’ etc but I wasn’t feeling it straight away. Naming him certainly helped - turned him from this weird crying baby into an actual person. And doing small things like holding him — Helen put him in bed next to me this morning and he just chilled there, holding my finger — that’s pretty cool, and I’m definitely warming to the dude. He’s a good one, I can feel it, and I like him, but I’m not yet feeling this uncontrollable surge of love yet, you know? Strange! And don’t get me wrong - I know it takes time. For a while (like, 30 minutes) I was like “Who is this guy?!” but that attitude doesn’t help anyone so I’m just taking my time now. Getting to know him, learning to love him, and trying to do whatever I can to make Helen’s life a little bit easier. I tell you one thing - I am in love with her more than ever. She’s been an absolute trooper throughout this whole process, and I am in total awe of what she’s done. She gives 110% in everything she does with Lachie, and handles herself with total grace and dignity. What an amazing woman.
