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We’ve been home two days now, things are ramping up in our life with the new little creature that will bring so much into our lives.

He’ll also take so much.

The decision was made when Sean was born that I would stay at the hospital full time, I want to contribute to Kate’s burden lessening as much as I can.
First point has been nappy changes, I think I have done 95% of his changes so far, and it’s something that Kate doesn’t have to worry about.

Trying to settle him down and allow her to sleep as much as possible is very important, and this 3 weeks I have off work is all about sharing that burden for as long as I can, because when I do go back to work, I’ll have very little opportunity to get time off for the next 12 months at least.

Getting up in the middle of the night to change a nappy, re-wrap him up, settle him down, or take him out to the lounge room just so Kate can grab as much sleep as she can get. We are trying to keep up with just breast feeding at the moment for as long as we can, formula has not been ruled out, but the longer we can hold out, the benefits for Sean will get only bigger.

Tiredness is hitting me a bit, but I’ve always been a bit of a night owl. But I’ll slog this out for as long as I can (next 18 years or so), it’s important for all three of us.

So the two previous posts I made about the impending birth of our son, Sean, on how I would react and what to do, became a non event for me.

But only in the sense that we were presented with the solution of not having that all bells panic of the surprise labour, you see the Mrs has had “morning sickness” 24/7 almost since conception.

This has led to worrying times over what to cook for dinner… NO MEAT! NO ONIONS! what is a man to live on? veges???

Kate’s little episode two weeks back led to a discussion with the OB, and due to health concerns for Kate, not Sean, he was cooking away nicely, induce time was set.

So we knew exactly when to be at the hospital, 8-8:30 on Thursday night.
all packed up and on the way in the car calmly driving to the hospital, not what you expected a few weeks back.

Nothing got kicked off that night anyway, little Sean, being the stubborn little shit like his father, decided he didn’t want to hang out down at the cervix like all good kids waiting to be born should.

So they put us up for the night and waited for the morning, where Kate was reassessed and the process started for real.

I’m not going to fill you in on all the gory details here, but Kate was an absolute champion and did her best to get the little guy out. Happy gas is a funny thing to see her on, and I’ve never been so scared for her then when I saw the look in her eyes as the epidural was applied, a fear of needles is a killer in a time like that.

But being there for her and supporting in whatever way I could, and probably not enough as I think back on it, but with a little help for the vacuum, Sean was ejected into this world at 2205 on 24/02/12.

The mark on his head will be with him for a little while, but apart from that we have a beautiful baby son, that is going to bring so much joy into our lives.

This blog really is going to start kicking off here, I have 3 weeks off work to enjoy time with my new born, then back to work for two weeks to hand over before I start in a new job on 2nd April.

But besides that little hurdle, my life is now going to be dedicated to teaching and nurturing this little person for the rest of his life.

Welcome to the adventure, Sean, strap in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!

Welcome to the world Mr Sean Michael Fenerty, born 24.02.2012 at 10:05 PM. Here’s a quick set of pics, I’ll post up an account of what the journey was like to get him here when things have settled down a bit and not using a horrible little laptop to post on.

On Friday, lunchtime, I got the phone call we all dread in this stage of life.
“Hey, can you get out of work? I need to go to hospital”

Oh shit…..

First off, there is no can you, it’s a pure case of, I’m leaving.

There were a few quick things I needed to organise before I left, number one was getting my bag as I needed the keys, being up the road getting lunch and doing errands was bad timing to get the call.
But leave I did and met Kate at the car in our usual pick up spot when heading home, I drove to the hospital and we discussed what was happening.

The symptoms were not really of labour but Kate actually called the birth suite and told them how she was feeling so we had to head in for a check up.

All was good in the end, but it turns out 8 months worth of “morning sickness” that lasts all day has a toll on the body.
Dehydration, it stimulates contractions, makes you feel like crap and affects the blood pressure, bad things when the little human inside you is trying to cook away normally ready for a March appearance.

So, five bags of fluids later, a night in the hospital and all is looking nice and healthy again. The nausea is still with us for the long term, but the little one is staying inside for a while yet.

It was a practice run for the main event at least.

That’s going to be the general outcry from most dad-to-be’s when the big day hits. That’s pretty much what my thoughts were, before last night.

I had the pleasure of attending a great night of information especially tailored for dads to be.

www.beerandbubs.com.au

I attended at the Toxteth Hotel in Glebe, hosted by the concepts creator and Author of the companion book Cheers to Childbirth, Lucy Perry.

And I have to say if you’re an expectant dad, get you butt along to one of these sessions. The information that was provided was excellent and gives you, the dad and support partner of your other half, a wealth of information.

Things covered in a short  point:
– Pain, what it’s like, how to deal with it
– What to pack, what not to pack
– Things you should never say during the birth
– Home Birth, Hospital Birth and C Sections
– Life after the birth

Lucy regaled us with her own birth stories, she has had three children herself, and was also a Doula (birthing support partner) herself.

On top of all this great knowledge, we also had a pub dinner, a couple of beers and a bunch of guys sharing an experience that is going to change all their lives.