Five Weeks of Fatherhood
The last 5 have certainly been different than life's normal pace. On June 28th, we welcomed our son, Rupert Jermaine Hansen, to the world!
Alyssa has posted about her birthing experience and given her very, very in-depth perspective. We were truly lucky to have everything go relatively smoothly. As a husband and to-be father, the most important thing I could do was offer support leading up to and during birth. Hand holding, getting water, helping decide which music our son would be born to (Incubus, for those who are curious!).
Since Rupert's birth, it's been much of the same support around the house. I've been available to take a number of weeks off work (thanks Salesforce for your great parental leave benefits) which has made the transition to parenthood a bit easier on all three of us. Never in my life have I cooked so much, however, it's been a great experience and definitely saves cash vs. eating out all the time.
Alas, this is the last week of my (current) parental leave and I'm going to have to face my next challenge: balancing being a new father with the demands of working in the tech industry. Many of my co-workers have done this successfully and I'm looking forward to learning from them on managing an already stretched work-life balance.
Five weeks of being a father doesn't make me an expert by any means, however, I did want to share a few resources and tips that have helped us in the short amount of time we've been parents:
- Get an Amazon Prime account - We've made a ton of baby-related purchases on Amazon and the free two-day shipping justifies the yearly fee. Some items also qualify for $3.99 CAD overnight shipping which is a steal if you need an item in a hurry.
- Invest in a baby swing - We got a deal on this swing on Amazon ($120 CAD) and even though it took a week to ship, it has been a life saver for us to have Rupert take a "hands-off nap". It's not 100% but has already been worth it's price.
- Reddit - Lots of great info on Reddit for new parents, shared stories from other Redditors, tips, etc. The /r/Parenting and /r/daddit subreddits are great resources for us as we review Reddit regularly.
- Get outside! - You'll read that many folks frown upon taking a newborn out of the house until at least 6 weeks after their birth. Nonsense! If you're lucky enough to have a newborn in the summer, be sure to get them out for a quick walk / drive here and there. Just be sure to keep them in the shade!
For now, off to enjoy the last few days of precious time off with this little guy!