The "debut dad" project

Jayden and I

So this is no secret, but I’m a first time dad and I really wanted to keep an account of the undoubtedly memorable journey I was about to embark on with the birth of my first child. I envisage it to be a web journal of my feelings, thoughts, experiences and adventures whilst also possibly acting as my online escape and means to deal with the pressures of being a new parent, and in particular a first time father… and so I begin the tales from a “debut dad”.

My aim is to continue to share my stories as my son also continues to grow, sharing our special moments and discoveries along the way.

I remember when my wife and I shared that special moment when we got a positive result from the home pregnancy kit. We both shed a tear as we knew we were soon to become a family. The months which followed were essentially months of education and research, both on the internet and from books which our friends and acquaintances suggested (sometimes insisted) that we read. As much as I’d like to “research” (Google) things about pregnancy at night after dinner, I often had other things to do, namely work (and the PS3 – hehe), so my wife (the angel that she is) asked that I only read certain chapters or paragraphs of the many books we somehow accumulated (which was a very good trade-off!). I look back now and really appreciate her effort and everything that I read definitely made some sense and some of it was pretty funny as well.

In the 8 or so months following the day the pregnancy was confirmed, I learnt a heck of a lot of information about my wife giving birth, pre and post natal concerns and how I could support her. There’s so much stuff out there to help mums and mums to be… but what about dads and dads to be?

What I had a lot of trouble understanding was what other first-time fathers were going through as everything seemed to be so mother-centric. I wanted to read about stories from other first-time dads. I didn’t want so called “expert” advice, rules, theories, 25 step plans, do’s and don’t's or magical formulae. Was it too much to ask to have some down to earth experiences from like-minded first time dads?

The “debut dad” project is what I would have wanted to read as a first-time father. I’ll be sharing nothing but my actual experiences (good and bad), what’s going through my mind, the ups and the downs, and the trials and the tribulations of being a new dad. My blog will be an account of what being a first-time father is like for me. I can imagine it being filled with funny anecdotes and strange discoveries. I am learning more every day and Jayden seems to be the one who is teaching me a lot of the time.

Brendan
a debut dad