A Thought From Dad

It's closing in on us! It seems like it was just last week that Rebecca and were anxiously awaiting to tell our families we were pregnant, and now here we are less than eight weeks away from his arrival. This has been a truly wonderful experience so far, but I know the real experience hasn't even yet begun.

Something I have been thinking about lately are routines and roles. Rebecca and I have a lot of them, both together and individually, and we each have our roles in the household. Whether it is waking up at 4:30 AM to go to the gym during the week, taking the dog outside to do her business before bed, making dinner and doing the dishes each night, or doing the laundry on the weekends, we have a routine for just about everything. And the other night as we were both in the bathroom brushing our teeth the sudden realization of just how much our routines will change hit me. I started thinking, if we're both in here brushing our teeth, who is watching Caleb?

I started to realize and understand what so many parents have told us; life as we know it is going to change. Please note that I said it is going to change; not life as we know it is over. I hate when people say that. To me, life will be starting all over again. And for Caleb, well, it will be the beginning for him. The beginning of life outside the womb. I guess the most frightening part about that is that for nine months, he has relied 100% on his mom to provide him everything he needs. And from the reports we get every other week at the doctor (soon to be every week!), Rebecca has done an outstanding job taking care of him. Every time I hear his heart beating with such force and speed, it makes mine skip a beat. But after he is born, he is going to be relying on me too! As he learns that dad is there to provide for him to, dad will be learning exactly what he has to do to provide for him!

In fact, dad is going to have to develop all new routines!

• How do you wake up at 4:30 AM when the baby has kept you up crying all night?
• How do you still let your wife do all the laundry when she is exhausted from taking care of the baby 24/7 (I know the answer to this one - you don't. I'll be doing the laundry!)

Of course, those are really new routines, but adaptations to existing routines. The real "new" routines are weekend trips to Babies R Us, and spending some time each weekend working on the babies room.

In the end though, for me, it doesn't matter what routine has to be adjusted or what new routine needs to be incorporated; whatever has to be done will be done. It can be overwhelming and seem like a hassle at times, but anytime I hear Rebecca talking about how she feels Caleb moving, or whenever I place my hand on her belly and feel him moving myself, and especially anytime we are at the doctor's office and amid the brief silence in the examining room I hear the thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, of Caleb's beating heart, I understand a little more how parents say they would do anything for their children. I know that every routine for the rest of my life will in some way be for Caleb.