I would like to take this opportunity to welcome my first son into this world. He was born today, February 23, 2005, at 12:56. Weighting as much as 3680 grams, he passed all the checks and looks and feels perfectly OK. “All systems are running”. Olga is getting well now after having the Caesarean section (for medical reasons).
Continue reading Welcome to the world, Maxim Mamchenkov!
Our pregnancy seems to be coming to an end. After the visit to our caretaker today, it was decided that Olga should be sent to clinic tonight. Nothing to worry about though. It’s just that the baby has grown big and there is no need for him to stay inside anymore. Olga will have a stimulation (they’ll just give her some hormones and stuff). The baby is due maximum tomorrow.
I have just came from the clinic where I left her. She is OK, considering her condition. I’ll go there tomorrow morning to see how things go. Unless of course, they’ll wake me up in the middle of the night.
Meanwhile I have requested days off from tomorrow up until the Sunday, 6th of March. I’ll surely have more important things to do than work in the office.
Let the parenting begin!
Today Olga and I took the last mega shopping tour to buy the last of the missing stuff. We also invited the “golden hands” guy to fix and patch a few broken pieces in the house. Even small things like shelves in the bathroom and new washing machine has been taken care off. This is amazing. Actually this is unbelievable. We started less than two month ago with a huge list of things to do and buy. We even wrote it down and revised it twice. It was so big that niegher Olga nor I could remember even half of it. And now we are done!
It feels very empty now. Before we used to worry a lot that we don’t have enough time or money to finish everything before the baby comes. But now there is nothing to do and the baby is still on its way. Come on, little fellow, hurry up!
Olga and I are just coming from our caretaker. (We do weekly checks now.) She said that Olga looks very good and she is totally prepared for the birthgiving. Olga’s belly is moving down and she can give birth any day now. Yes, that means even today!
Anyway, our estimated date of delivery is February 24th. Which is Thursday of the next week. Because the baby is growing good (he is now about 3,700 grams, probably very long too), Olga will not be given any opportunity to deliver later. If the baby won’t come out by himself, Olga will be put into hospital and stimulated for delivery. As far as I know, the process of stimulation is actually pretty routine and possess no risks.
Our next check is scheduled for the 22nd of February, which is exactly in one week. If Olga will still be pregnant, arragements will be made for her to go to the hospital on the evening of 23rd.
So, here I am – not like many future fathers I guess. I have a really precise schedule for when I will become one. “Old man”. “Father”. “Dad”. “Papa”… I am not scared or anything. All my worries are regarding Olga’s delivery and the health and well-being of the baby. Hopefully, everything will go without surprises. Other than that, I am sleeping very well. Actually, I am pretty amazed by myself. I thought I would be more nervous. I guess I made of steel then.
One of the most frequently repeated things that people preparing for parenting read is that there will be a huge lack of sleep during the first months after the baby is born. Most of the parents remember this time as the hardest time of their life.
Indeed, sleep is a very important part of every person’s life. Cutting the sleep is, I guess, similar to eating less. People get sad, depressive, and all psychodelic when denied the recharge of batteries. Brain needs rest or it will get fried, overwhelmed with information.
During my last few days as being non-father I am trying to imagine how bad can that be. One of the thoughts that sort of calms me down is that most people (of those who call the first few months the hardest time in their lives) have to go through a major change when the baby is born. Most people sleep during the night and stay awake during the day. With the newborn baby this changes, as do a lot of other things, and the young parent gets a lot of stress due to these many changes. I myself don’t use the night for sleep. With my work in the NOC, I get all sorts of shifts. I regularly switch between night shifts (from 23:00 until 08:00) and office work (from 09:00 until 18:00). I don’t always go to bed in the morning after the night shift. In fact, I don’t sleep that much anyway. Sometimes I can sleep for just 2 or 3 hours and go for the next 24 hours without sleep. Sometimes 5 hours per day (broken into pieces) make me feel recovered. I don’t have any problem falling asleep at any time of the day. And I don’t have that big of a problem waking up. I think that not that many people sleep in this way. That gives me hope that the first few month won’t be as hard for me as they are for most parents.
Not that they will be totally easy, but just easier than for most. I will still have to deal with the stress of responsibility, huge amounts of information, and a bunch of new tasks. We’ll see how it goes…