Father Friday - Double Feature

Here are two posts I've been saving up. One funny. One serious.

Honey, I Jinxed The Baby

If you look at the photos we have posted on flickr, you'll see that each baby has a nickname. Squeaker got her nickname because when she came home, she would get the hiccups a lot. When she did, they didn't sound like hiccups. They sounded like the "yippy" squeak-like sound a small dog makes when it's barking. I can only think that it's my fault.

When the ultrasounds were made to determine the sex of the babies, she was the one that a guess. At that time, we thought she was a girl, but we weren't 100% sure. I used to jokingly tell people we were having a boy, girl and a puppy. I think she must have heard me say that.

I'm a Victim of Postpartum Something

Postpartum depression has been in the news a lot lately - mainly because of Tom Cruise. He certainly has a right to his opinion, but something happened when we started bringing the babies home. I think I was a victim of postpartum depression that affects dads.

Lots of men gain weight or have sympathy pains during the pregnancy. I experienced none of that. Nothing notable occurred until the babies were born.

In my mind, I had this idea that the mother would come home without any problems and that the babies would come home in a few days from the NICU. We would hit the ground running with the new family. What a shock it was to me when the mother started having some problems from the c-section. Not only that, but the babies were coming home a bit slower than I had anticipated. It suddenly occurred to me that I still had to deal with the slow healing of the mother, care for three babies that were scattered between home and the hospital and balance the needs of home and the workplace. It was too much.

For about five days, I was in a haze. I had no idea how to handle everything. The depression and stress were taking their toll. I started having chest pain and I realized I had to get a grip on things or I was going to start having health problems. Thankfully this was temporary and as the mother started healing and all the babies came home, the stress level decreased. I now take everything in stride and have a healthy balance between everything.

So what's the point of this? Having a baby, or babies, is really stressful and can affect everyone. It takes some time to adjust to the changes. Don't forget to laugh and keep in mind that the hard times are only temporary. And if you really think you have postpartum depression, don't ignore it.