Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

I guess I will leave that there, I like it. Be yourself. It is easier said than done, what happens if you are unsure of who you are. I am a son, a father, a brother, a grandson, a nephew, a cousin, a friend, a lucky man to have the woman I do. So I guess I’m a lot of things. I’m not sure if I have had my defining moment yet. A moment that defined me two years ago was life altering. Welcoming a baby into this world will surely change you forever. At least I’ve found something I’m good at. My whole life I’ve pretty much coasted by, never really excelling at something. Let me tell you one thing, there is no such thing as coasting by as a parent. You can either step up or back out. There is no in between, another human being is now counting on you. I thought I was ready, psss you’re never really ready.

Day 1: It is a whirlwind of a day, which really begins on day zero or negative one but gosh darn technicalities. Of course, it’s April and I haven’t considered my profession and my baby together so not the greatest timing but on to bigger and better things. It’s cold, we go the hospital the night before and nothing. We wait annnd we wait. So apparently doctors don’t trust the waiting game anymore so they do some medical thingy and put this show into motion. Twelve hours and a few surprises later the nurse shouts, “Awww look at her eyelashes”. I reply, “can we admire the eyelashes later get our baby out!?!”. All good, all good. Things happen real quickly and the next thing I know is that they tell us she has a fever and needs to go to the NICU. For those of you that don’t know, that stands for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Nobody panic she was okay she just needed a dramatic entrance. I do have to shoutout our NICU nurse Katie. She taught Parenting 101 from 4am to whenever her shift ended. She was absolutely amazing. We should go visit so she can see the work in process she helped create and receive some well deserved gratification. If you ever end up in St. Catherine’s of Siena Maternity NICU, you are in good hands. This was supposed to be about parenting, how fulfilling it is. It can be hard but remember you have two of them and they have done this at least once before. Stay tuned for Day 2!