The Crib: A Blog for New Parents

A friend of mine just became a dad for the first time, and his excitement and astonishment has infected me with a bit of nostalgia. It’s been awhile, but I do remember the early days and nights spent with my babies.

I remember the amazement of holding a real live tiny person, instead of imagining what that little person would feel like in my arms. The wonder of seeing their clear and hopeful eyes, and of watching their little chests move up and down with each tiny breath. I used to place my hand on their tummies, just to feel them breathing while they slept. I was always afraid that my hand would be too heavy on their chest, and might hurt them. I worried about a lot of things with my first baby that seemed rather silly with the other two, but fear of hurting them accidentally never went away.

My friend in his mid forties, his wife is in her late thirties, so they are facing this adventure without even the benefit of youthful energy. This is the first baby for both of them, and they are completely thrilled, they are also exhausted because their daughter is colicky, she also had her days and nights mixed up. I keep telling them that she’ll adjust, and so will they, lol, eventually.

I can not even imagine how I would cope with the new baby worries at this point in my life, but I suppose I couldn’t have imagined it then either. And it isn’t as if you really think about how old you are when it’s 3 in the morning and you’re walking the new baby up and down the hallway and trying not to look at the clock to see if it’s the other parents turn to walk the floor yet. You pretty much only think about how tired you already were when you put the baby to bed in the first place. But then, baby finally falls asleep, and you forget about exhaustion, and you forget about the headache, and everything else in the world, you only know that the baby tummy under your hand is rising and falling easily, and softly. The clear and hopeful little eyes are closed, and your baby is the most wonderful little person in all the world.