Musings From A First Time Father

Delivery Room Playlist and The Hospital Room

noreply@blogger.com (Mitch Behrendt) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 22:26:00 +0000

I have been in our hospital room a couple of times through tours or false labors (better to be cautious and wrong than not and something bad happen, right?), and I have to say that it is going to be a pretty good experience as the dad. The stereotype for fathers is that it is an uncomfortable two to three days. Hard couches to sleep on, no food and tons of beat down. I can say, at least for our hospital, this will not be the case. The fold out couch is pretty comfortable, and I'll be dammed if they don't feed me all meals! I got to taste one of said meals during one of our false labor experiences. I was sitting in the room and a nurse brought in a tray of food for me. I hesitated as I lifted the top to find pasta and sauteed mushroom which looked pretty good. It turns out that it tasted just as good as it looked. Apparently my hospital employs gourmet chefs, which is good, because I like food! Not only that, but free food! And when that free food is tasty? HEAVEN.

As we get closer to the miracle of birth, you have to start getting things in line. The wife has gotten her hospital bag ready filled with clothes, toiletries and a taser to zap me when she is annoyed with me (THE WHOLE TIME). She has the bag for the baby that included clothing and diapers. My bag will include a change of clothes and, if I can sneak it in, an XBOX (HDTV in the room FOR THE WIN!) One important thing that we have yet to fully plan for is our music playlist. Music is important to a person's life in many ways, and a perfect playlist can be the muse that helps my wife push through the pain. So taking that into consideration I have been thinking about the playlist, and I believe that I have come up with the perfect list. Please feel free to copy this list, I am doing this as a service to you!

Party Hard - Andrew W. K.: It's all about first impressions and how you start. You need something to set the mood for the moment. And to me, nothing says "Let's do this!" like a crappy hardcore party song. Music that will make you want to run your head through a wall. And since your baby will be pushing through a "wall" so to speak, it makes perfect sense to use this.

Lyric that means the most for the birth and why:

Cos we will never listen to your rules (no)
We will never do as others do (no)
Know what we want and we get it from you
Do what we like and we like what we do

Obviously your child will eventually hate you and won't do what you say!

November Rain - Guns N' Roses: I know what you are saying, "Mitch, this song has nothing to do about child birth, and the music video shows Axl Rose's wife dying! What gives!" Yes, I get it, it has nothing to do child birth, and it isn't a very upbeat song. But how can you not include a song with an epic Slash guitar solo? I have wonderful dreams of waiting until the moment that my baby comes out, and then jumping into the middle of the delivery room ripping my button down shirt open. Someone on the far side of the room turns on a wind machine, I pull out a Les Paul out of nowhere and play the solo to November Rain note for note. How cool would that be? It is possible that I have issues...

Seriously, bad ass!

Lyric that means the most for the birth and why:

No lyrics, just straight up Slash shredding!

Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley: Like Rick Astley: I'm never gonna give you up, let you down, turn around and desert you. Make you cry, say goodbye, tell a lie and hurt you. So if I am not going to do any of those, I might as well include the anthem for all things faithful and honest. Now if I could find that dancing bartender from the music video to do the dance in the delivery room? PURE BLISS

He's never gonna give you up, so why would I?

Lyrics that mean the most for the birth and why:

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

Words to live by!

Abbey Road Melody - The Beatles: If anybody knows me, they know that I adore the Fab Four. So there will be many Beatles songs on this list if I have a say. So I will mention the Abbey Road Melody ("You Never Give Me You Money", "Sun King", "Mean Mr. Mustard", "Polythene Pam", "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window", "Golden Slumbers", "Carry That Weight", "The End"). How cool would it be for "Golden Slumbers" to be rocking out as the wife is pushing, and Ringo hits the drum fill to begin "Carry That Weight" as the baby comes out? GREATEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE! Oh, uh...Well, second behind my daughter being born...sure...

Lyric that meant the most for the birth and why:

Golden slumbers,
Fill your eyes
Smiles await you when you rise
Sleep pretty darling
Do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby.

Nothing funny to write here, just straight up encapsulates my feelings for this event.(AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!)

Quote of the day:

Wife: "I want this baby out! Mitch, tell your baby to come out!"

Me: *Akwardly to wife's belly* "Hey...co...come out Zoey.......Did that work?"

Wife: "I hate you" *walks away"

Days Left Till Due Date: 12!

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I Have Totally Lost My Man Card...And I Don't Care!

noreply@blogger.com (Mitch Behrendt) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:07:00 +0000

One thing has become incredibly apparent as the wife's pregnancy has gone on, and that would be my excitement for this event increases exponentially by the day. I obviously do not yet have the bond that my wife has with our child that comes with carrying it for 9+ months, but my anticipation in creating my own bond is sky high. Most of you know that we are having a girl. When we first found that out all those month ago, I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed that we were not having a boy. Most men feel this way I am sure. We all want a boy that we can groom into a mini version of us. Every man that wants kids wants a boy they can play catch with, teach to shave and teach that women are the spawn of hell. Now that last one is technically not true, but you get the idea. Also, most bachelors and even kid-less married dudes don't care about "cute" things, and "pretty tutus and dresses". Really anything girly is not what men wonder about in day to day life.

I AM A MAN, AND I WILL ROCK YOUR FACE OFF!

But Fellas, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform all of you that, not only have I turned in my "Man Card", but that I don't care and fully behind having a girl!

THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BECOME!!!

It is an unfortunate transformation that I had no control over and there is no going back. There are many examples that have happened over the last few months that I now reluctantly share with you, the sweet dirty reader:

1. I have a dresser that was a manly blue color. I took that dresser, and not only painted it, but also PICKED THE COLORS FOR THE DRESSER. I also got mad when the wife told me that I had to wait for her to go to Home Depot.

IT'S SO CUTE!

2. After finishing said dresser, I immediately wanted to work on new projects to use more of the pink and purple paint.

3. I essentially took over the planning of the room layout. This included all of the girly things I had already painted. My wife, who is clearly in the nesting phase (go read a real parenting book if you want to know what nesting is), was mad that she has nothing left to do in the room.

4. My wife has to yell at me to STOP buying girl clothing. We were incredibly lucky in that we received more hand me down clothing that anyone could ever hope to deal with, and yet I CANNOT STOP BUYING CUTE ONESIES!

5. I picked the outfit that the little one will come home with. I bought it from the store BY MYSELF. Guys, I don't think you understand how much that is the mom's decision!

6. I BOUGHT A ZOO!

7. Pink Whale Tub...Nuff Said.

Again, Nuff Said

Quote of the Day:

Me (to wife): "You know how the baby can hear the outside world? Can she hear this?" *farts angrily*

Wife: *shakes head, walks away*

Days to due date: 19

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My Qualifications and Holding Babies

noreply@blogger.com (Mitch Behrendt) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:30:00 +0000

Yesterday I talked about why I might not be ready to be a father. Today I am going to make a case for why I AM ready to be a father. Most people like to question themselves on why they might not be ready, especially when you are as close as my wife is to dropping a baby. I say NAY! Look, having a kid is going to be hard work and something that I have never done before, but it doesn't mean I won't be ready for what comes at me.

First of all, I have totally changed a diaper. Back when my super awesome nephew, Ethan, was staying with us overnight, the wife gave me the task to change the simplest of diapers: The Pee Diaper. I had no problem with this, as pee is totally not gross. Unfortunately I hit a little snag in my effort to change said diaper. Babies, particularly boys, when a diaper is taken off of them the cold air hits there little wee wees. And when cold air hits little wee wees, they have a tendency to want to be warm again. The second the diaper came off, that defense mechanism kicked in and he proceeded to pee all over me. I have changed one diaper in my life, never before, and never since, and naturally the one time that I do I get the lemonade surprise.

Don't turn your back Uncle Mitch, I will totally pee on you!

Second of all, I totally took a home economics course in middle school for six weeks. In that class we got to do things like sew (I made a cookie pillow!), cook (I made a cookie!) and took home a simulation baby doll to take care of (I didn't name her Cookie, that would be weird). The baby doll would simulate what a real baby's tendencies were. When the doll was hungry, it cried, and we would have to "feed" the baby. It would wake you up at odd hours of the night, it would wake up and cry at school in the middle of classes. It was quite the learning experience, even if I didn't take it too seriously. The only weird part about the project was that when you fed the baby, instead of feeding the baby a bottle, you have to stick a key into the back of the baby and twist it until the baby was done "feeding". It certainly made for awkward looks at restaurants and stores.

So as you can see, I am 100% qualified to be a dad. I should have no problem being able to handle the daily grind of being a new dad. That is until the first time I am with Zoey alone and calling my wife, mom or sister every five minutes wondering what to do.

As an aside to this. Something came up over the weekend related to babies that I wanted to mention. A couple of good friends of ours just had a baby on Christmas Day. We saw them over the weekend and it was the baby's big coming out party to the rest of us. Naturally my wife ended up holding the baby the most out of everyone. She has the baby fever so it makes sense. At one point my wife and the baby's mother asked if I wanted to hold the baby. I immediately said NO WAY! It has nothing to do with the baby or anything offensive like that. My problem, and a problem that most non dads have is that we have no problem with the idea of holding a baby. There is nothing wrong with it at all. The problem we have is that we feel we WILL NOT be that person that drops their baby. There is no way I will be that guy. I know full well that I probably WON'T drop the baby. But what if I was? If I drop MY baby, sure I am a piece of crap, but it's MY baby. So all these moms that get turned down by non dads take note, it's not you, its them!

Quote of the Day:

Me (to a friend that just became a dad): "How do you balance a baby and playing XBOX?"

Friend: You don't!

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Am I Mature Enough To Have A Baby?

noreply@blogger.com (Mitch Behrendt) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:54:00 +0000

Tomorrow marks 37 weeks, or "TERM" as baby books will tell you. So from here on out, we are a full go at any time. At any point the wife can call me and let me know that we are a go. That is when I will jump out of my chair, rip off my clothes and don my "Super Dad" costume and fly to my wife's rescue. Of course we all know that is total BULLSH and I will probably be in the fetal position freaking the hell damn out.

This brings me to the topic at hand: Am I mature enough to handle having a baby? People that know me know that I love immature humor. Not many things in this world better than a good fart joke. I love making light of situations and having the most fun possible. I am a laid back dude that is just trying to enjoy the ride of life. But in the last year, there have been moments of "parenting" where I have failed very hard in the maturity realm. Let's look at three examples:

Let me first give you a little background info. When I married my wife, I also inherited an eight year-old step-daughter. She is a great kid and I love her to death. She drives me up the wall like any eight year-old does, but it is a wild but great ride. One day she got in trouble at school, and as most parents do with their children, you talk to them about what they did wrong and how to fix it. I received those talks as a child:

Mom: "Now Mitch, you can't always react to the teacher getting on you by wetting your pants."
Me: "Sorry Mom."
Mom: "You are in High School now...."

That is the smile of a kid that loves peeing his pants! Me: Age 5

So we called her out to the living room to talk to her, and she comes in and sits on the floor. In our house, we have wood floors (and by wood, I mean FAKE wood) and we begin to talk to her about the problem. Half way through the talk, my wife asked her if she understood. So of course the kid went with the proper reaction, which was to let out a staggering fart that was only more magnified by the fact she was sitting on the wood floor. My wife, being a mature adult mother figure, not only did not laugh, but moved on like it was nothing. Me? I had to get up and lock myself in the bathroom on the OTHER SIDE OF THE HOUSE because I was laughing uncontrollably. It was the greatest thing that I ever saw. If I could have, I would have given the kid an award for the greatest tension breaker of all time.

Another time the kid got in trouble because she was doing cartwheels on the playground and her skirt kept flying up. No big deal right? Happens all the time. I can't tell you how many times my skirt flew up on the playground when I was in 2nd grade. So the wife and I go talk to her and just remind her that she needs to be mindful of that. My wife begins to give her an example of a reason why this is not a good idea.

Wife: "What if Mitch was at work, and he took his pants off and started walking around with no pants? How would his co-workers feel about that?"

Now let me say, this is not a bad comparison at all. A good comparison to real life indeed. My problem is that when she said this, I immediate started imagining myself at work dropping my pants and skipping around the office. A funny visual indeed, and it made me laugh out uncontrollably. So once again, back to the other side of the house to let the laughter come out.

Last example was a couple of weeks ago. The wife and I were at Target buying some stuff. It was a crappy day, cold and rainy. We are leaving Target and heading to the car and I enter the driver's side. My wife opens the passenger side to get in. Now a few things here. We own a mini-van and as with all big vehicles it is a high step up to the inside. My wife is a short woman, and is of course EIGHT AND A HALF MONTHS PREGNANT! So she has a tough time as is. Let's add in that the baby was hitting some nerve that was causing her leg to be numb, making it difficult to walk on. And then add an immature crappy husband and you get a moment that will live in marriage infamy. My wife struggles to get into the vehicle, at one point doing that move that all toddlers do, which is the "Toddler get up on the couch move". You know the one where a child will lift themselves up, and then do the roll over to get up on the couch? That is what my wife did. So I did what any good husband would do, which was not only not help her, but to also laugh so uncontrollably that I put my head down on the steering wheel. Tell you what, I am glad that my wife is pretty cool, because that would have been grounds for murder in most cases.

My point is that even at 29 I still have horrible immature tendencies. And with three weeks to go I am wondering if this is okay and even a good thing. I don't feel that I am not ready for the duty (hehe, duty!) of being a father and being responsible. I just wonder if I will be able to handle moments like above with any type of maturity. I have no doubt that the kid will be loved and that I will want to play all day with her. But when she drops ass the first time at a family function, will I be able to handle it, or will I be sliding in for a high five? I think we all know the answer to that question...

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Less Than One Month To Go!

noreply@blogger.com (Mitch Behrendt) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:07:00 +0000

Before I get to the first ever post of this blog, let me begin by saying that this is in no way a how to or even a place to get information for new fathers. This is a lighthearted look into my experiences being shared with the masses. ENJOY!

Conversation with the wife earlier this week:

Me: Wow, today is a pretty important date!

Wife: It sure is! Today marks a month until our baby's due date!

Me: ....You're PREGNANT?!?!?!

Of course I kid (get it? KID?). As of today there are 27 days until the expected due date of my first child (March 20th). Showers are over and gear has been purchased. The baby's room is just about set up. Now starts the waiting game. At this point, the wife is willing to do just about anything to get the baby out. She is uncomfortable, tired and lost all patience with the pregnancy. But enough about her, all she is doing is carrying the baby, mi right ladies???

As the baby has gotten closer and closer, a transformation has begun in myself that I cannot reverse. As you may or may not know, I am having a little girl. And with that comes all things girly. Girly clothing, girly decorations, girly toys, girly EVERYTHING. And being that I am a man, all of this is totally lame and "super gay"! Well, that would be what I would be saying if it wasn't for the fact that I feel the complete opposite. And how do I know this? Exhibit A:

I bought a zoo!

Yep, that would be a gaggle of stuffed animals filling the crib to the top. And guess who is the one that picked them out and bought them? Yep, two thumbs pointing at this guy! This is only the half of it though. I have purchased and picked out the outfit the little thing is going to wear home from the hospital. And I am fully aware that I have lost my man card to never be received back again. But I don't care, my baby needs a zoo of stuffed animals to surround her creepily at night!

Not sure why this transformation has happened. Nor do I know if this happens to most/all men when they have a child. I have excepted it for what it is, which is that I am woman with male parts.

One last musing. The other night the wife and I were laying in bed watching TV and my wife exclaims, "Mitch! Look!", and points to her belly. The baby was moving around and the movement was right out Alien's when the alien burst out of the chest. It was amazing and horrifying at the same time. The wife wanted me to put my hand on her tummy while this was happening and there was no way that was going to happen! Terrifying!

That is it for now, in the last couple of weeks leading to the baby, I hope to update a couple times a week. Once the baby arrives, I hope to update once a day or so. Maybe mixing in a mailbag of sorts (haven't decided on where readers will send those yet). If you like (or don't) what you read, leave a comment! See you next time!