Becoming A Dad

"Becoming a Dad has been the most wonderful event to have happened in my life, to have the unequivocal love from a baby without having to wine/dine and take on romantic holidays like i did for Catherine is such an indescribable feeling.

To wake up in the morning or any time of day/night in response to something that is a part of you and your wife, makes everything i do in work, rest and play all for them.

To see our daughter as a newborn in her crib sleeping peacefully, cooing at her mum, playing with her toys and gradually develop into a beautiful little girl makes me fail to understand those people who don't want kids or resent having them.

It has been hard for both of us as we have no family in New Zealand we have had to rely heavily on each other but i think that has made it easier in a way, working things out together and taking all the positive ideas from websites' such as yours. Through trail and error our baby has developed a routine that has definitely got her off to the best possible start.

When we found out we were pregnant our thoughts went to how do we feed her. Being a farmer breast is always best, it was something we identified with straight away and Catherine was determined to get it right and she researched a lot and we both went to a breast feeding discussion at Christchurch Women's Hospital.

I did not feel resentment to Catherine having the extra bonding from breast feeding, we tried the bottle but baby didn't take to it and I felt that it was not really my job to feed her that way. Watching Catherine pump milk for me to feed to baby was quite uncomfortable and i knew Catherine felt uncomfortable pumping and frustrated when she couldn't get the let down. Not feeding baby actually made my nappy changing, bathing, story telling and buggy walking all the more special.

We knew that to give our daughter the best start i had to be involved in as much of the day to night care as my work permitted so that Catherine could recover quickly to help her milk supply. We also had a wonderful mid-wife who gave us and especially Catherine huge support and encouragement in breast feeding and latching in the beginning.

We are expecting our 2nd child in mid October and i am looking forward to the challenge with more confidence this time.

Kind Regards
Catherine's Husband"