The sweetest little baby was born a little after midnight on 8/31/13.

A day and a half of support at the UW Medical Center was our first experience as parents. A dreamlike state of exhaustion and wonder. Who is this little creature? More importantly, what are we supposed to do? How do I change a diaper? How do we keep him alive?

Clearly I made it all the way to holding my newborn without doing much research. Tried to absorb everything the nurses did – diapers, cleaning, swaddling, etc.

Then, around 3am, lights off. Mama is completely passed out after a twelve-hour labor and whatever it was the doctor did for/to her right after. There I am, lying next to Baby. No one else in the room. I have no training or certification that qualifies me for this role, to keep Baby alive.

Nurses assure me he’s just going to lie there, professionally swaddled, until their next visit in 2 hours. Turns out there’s not actually anything for me to do. Except lie there, completely terrified that something might happen under my watch. I stayed up until that next visit. Things seemed okay.

Then I slept until around 10am.

By the time I woke, Wife was awake and her mom was there in the room visiting. Visitors all day with plenty of time to relax and eat. Learned how to change the baby, and all dirty diapers and  wash cloths get thrown into cans that get taken away. We have another day of parenting with training wheels.