In preparation for Father’s Day this Sunday, we are honoured to share one of our Hatch parent’s experiences of becoming a father for the first time. Thank you Luke!
This Sunday will be my first Father’s Day, a proud son of Michael de Gee and father to my little man Barley de Gee (aka BdG).
As a new father, it was really hard for me to forge that strong connection with our baby whilst he was growing inside his Mummy’s tummy. At the 10 week scan, a godsend obstetrician from Hatch caught me off guard while he was performing the ultrasound and said “See the baby is waving at you…Hello Mummy and Daddy!”
In this very moment, all of the strong walls I had built over the years around my emotions had been smashed by the wrecking ball of love. This doctor helped me to instantaneously develop one of the strongest emotional connections I have ever experienced in my life, and for that I am extremely grateful.
At the 38 week mark we had tried to induce our little man on the day of my birthday 😁. However, he felt that the only way to make an entrance to the world was through the sunroof, and so, 27 hours later, he greeted us with his arms wide open!
One thing that no one talks about or prepares you for is the emotional roller coaster that is your first week of parenthood! Lucky for us, we had our first 6 days at the Mater Mothers’ Private Hospital, where we received first class care and everything was taken care of, especially the food and linen! However, I was not prepared for the roller coaster of emotions that I would experience in this first week as a first time father. I went from being cool, calm, and collected for the entire labour, to feeling in awe and in love at the first sight our son.
It was when I went to get some much needed shut eye that all of the emotions really intensified to a whole new level. Whenever I closed my eyes for a short 20 minutes, I would start sobbing my heart out with tears of happiness to the point I would wake up. I tried to suppress this sobbing business in front of mummy so I could keep it together and be her rock when she needed me the most. Unsuccessful at times, my wife and I would catch each other’s eyes whilst looking at our little creation and start doing a weird cry off. Our cups of love were completely overflowing such that some needed be poured out to release our emotions and make room for some more.
For all the fathers out there, expecting and experienced, may you and your family take some quality time together to top up your cups of love – there’s no shame in letting it overflow!
Happy Father’s Day!
Our sincere gratitude goes to Luke for being so open, honest and generous in sharing his first-time fatherhood story.
We wish all of our Hatch fathers a wonderful day this Sunday, and as Luke says, we hope you are able to enjoy some quality time with your family.