Tip:

When the wipes container is empty, just start using damp paper towels instead (keep them in the wipes container to stay damp). It's WAAAAY cheaper, and much easier on their skin. Once we stopped using wipes on our daughter, she stopped getting rashes almost entirely.

Chemicals, you know.

Interesting. Will propose that to my wife for consideration.

Congrats! Cute baby

I have to apologize for not going through the whole thread to see if this has been discussed but...Anyone have experience/advice for having their first child later in life? This pregnancy isn't a surprise but I am just wondering if there are people with any insights on what I may expect being an older father. The due date isn't until February so I still have a chance to try and get my old body and brain somewhat prepared. Thanks.

How old will you be then?

I'm 36 with Cora on the way in the next 2-3 weeks. Does that count?

(It always seems people around here are in their 20s)

Eh, had my first at 30, last at 37, it's fine, you'll have the advantage of wisdom, patience and the ability to need less sleep

I am 47 and have had my first two in the last 18 months.

I am pretty freakin beat, but my life is so infinitely better now than it was before that I honestly don't care.

Just be ready. Your old life is ALL THE WAY over with. The sooner you recognize that, the easier it will all be.

For example, I used to leave my house to go out at 10PM many evenings.

I have not been up past 10 for MONTHS, at least not on purpose.

I go out at 10pm, my wife goes to bed and I go hang out and drink beers and shoot darts.

Ut oh.

I'll be 46 when my wife is due.

I'm happy to say that I'm not too worried about my exciting life being over. Having recently moved to a relatively quiet city we don't really have much of a nightlife anymore. What I am worried about is mentally overcoming the years of having no serious responsibilities. I'm also a bit concerned about the physical challenges of have a young child...Guess it's time to get serious about getting into a bit better shape.

As long as you're not in terrible shape, the kids will actually get you into better shape on their own.

But if you are in terrible shape, you should start now. This is really exhausting sometimes. Of course, I have two. What the hell was I thinking?

And if you smoke, for God's sake, quit.

Wife is in pre-labor. Not sure what that means. Might have the baby today. Bhahahaha. Can't wait.

Get some sleep if you can.

Best of luck!

Wow. Incredible. Went into a regularly scheduled appointment at 9am. She was monitored til 1pm. Admitted into the hospital at 3pm. Apparently there were multiple emergency c-sections going on at the time, we couldn't get an epidural for a while. Wife went into labor at around 6pm. Got epidural at 8pm. Pushed until 11pm. Doctor said we'd have to do a c-section, options being c-section, suction something (vacuum?) wasn't the best option, and regular birth wasn't working.

Cora Lin born at 145 AM on the 6th. Went to bed at 5am. Ouch. Rough rough rough day. The least-favorite scenario happened - went through the birthing process, painful, then had to do a c-section. It's all over though, and the baby looks really awesome.

Just as a warning to new fathers/mothers out there - babies come out purple. I don't mean a purple tinge, I mean like Barney the dinosaur purple. She changed color within a minute or two but it was a bit scary to witness.

Incredible experience. Everything was "no big deal" until the baby starts crying then you start tearing up. Crazy.

Crazy, and awesome.

Ok, going back to the hospital. Will report back. We'll be there for a few days.

Congratulations! For what it's worth, even though it seems like she had to experience the pain of labor for "nothing," it's better for any future pregnancies that she did.

Cora Lin is a great name! And congratulations!

Congrats on the baby!

Way to go Wil.

Everything has changed now, and if you're man enough to handle it (of course you are), it will be the best thing ever.

At least that's how it's been with me.

Congrats.

Congrats, and a big +1 to the purple thing. I was thinking wtffff when my first was born.

Cora Lin. I know everyone thinks their baby is cute, but damn my baby is cute. She's a little busted up because she's young (less than 24 hours) and she has a bit of cone head, but she's awesome.

Congratulations, Wil

Thanks everyone. Going to get some rest and get back to the hospital in the morning.

Man. This is tougher than it looks. We're taking turns holding/caring for the baby. I am changing her in the basinet (we're still in the hospital because she's recovering from the c-section) and she feeds her every 2 hours. We didn't even think of sending her back to the nursery so my wife can sleep at night, when her cousin said that's what we should do it struck me as odd, even though it kind of makes sense. We're just keeping her with us unless she needs vitals checked or any shots, then she gets returned right back to us. It's a bit boring in the room but we're just hanging out. My wife is busted up from the recovery and she catches 1 hour naps while I watch the baby (and tv).

I'm running home at night to take care of the animals/clean the house/sleep then wake up and go back. We get discharged tomorrow so tonight's the last night of this. My wife is feeling much better but she still has those sutures in her stomach. She's ok and in good spirits though.

Can't wait to come home tomorrow and start doing normal house stuff, as weird as it sounds. Being in a hospital room is like taking care of 2 residences at once. At least when we're home I can just cook for her and take care of stuff around the house in a familiar setting. Bought pizza for the nurses last night too, so they warmed up to us pretty nice.

It's a strange thing only worrying about yourself your whole life then the last thing you think about before going to bed is the baby and the first thing you think of when you wake up is the baby. Hah. Pretty cool actually.

Ok. Gotta walk the dog then go to the hospital. Fun fun.

For each of our two kids in the last two years, I slept at the hospital for three days with my wife and the newborn. It's like the tail end of some drug binge, but it's worth doing.

But yeah, you really start to hope to go home. Like counting the hours.

Get ready for this: "Oh my god they're sending this baby home with us?! Wait...what? can we handle this?!"

Yes, you can handle it.

Just don't expect any personal time, or think that you'll get a break, or anything like that.

I'm telling you this so you'll do a better job, stay committed, and on the off-chance you get a small break, you'll appreciate it more.

Hard to believe the average person can actually handle the whole thing, right?

Gogogogogogo.

It got easier for us after the two week mark, when his umbilical cord finally fell off and his circumcision healed. My boy is 7 weeks now and it's going well so far. No snafus yet thankfully. Wife and I have had 2 "date" nights where his grandma watched him for us and we were able to go out for a few hours just the two of us. I heard that's important to maintain sanity and also remember that you and your wife love eachother. Baby gets all the attention now so I heard parents have to go out of their way to keep things romantic or whatever. We can go out more often but I guess we haven't needed to. We're typically homebodies anyway. We also enjoy putting him in the stroller and pushing him around our neighborhood's retention lake, just to get out of the house once in a while. Or taking short vehicular trips to go get food and whatnot.