This little fella has been with us for a month now, and he’s turned our lives upside down! I can’t believe a whole month has already flown by before I’ve had a chance to introduce the wee man – he’ll be a year before we know it at this rate! I’m very much working around his demands at the moment, so I’ll making sure to document these things before they’re confined to the (not entirely reliable!) memory banks..
The birth..
I was worried about the birth to be honest, after I’d read someone describe their child’s birth as “like a scene from a slaughterhouse” – I don’t do blood and gore, and so this had me worried. I needn’t have worried though as the majority of the labor was blood-free, and when it did become a blood-fest, I was up at the non-business end of things. That doesn’t mean it was a doddle though – Er Indoors was in labor for a total of 28 and a half hours, the first twelve of which were a piece of cake, but it soon went downhill from there on, and the worst thing for me was having to watch Er Indoors in excruciating amounts of pain without there being a damn thing I can do about it.
Eventually it was clear that Jack wasn’t going to come out by himself, so we were whisked down to surgery (we’d already been prepped 5 hours previously after a scare where baby’s heartrate dropped for around ten minutes) and he was finally delivered via forceps at 10:43am on Saturday 22nd August 2009. The drama didn’t end there however as he was having trouble breathing by himself, so we had a nervous 5 minutes of silence before he was breathing (and crying) by himself, and maintaining his temperature before we could relax (a little!)
I can sum it all up in one word: Brutal. I really didn’t enjoy the birth, and would be quite happy to never go through it again.. Er Indoors seems to have forgotten the worst of it though, so I dare say we’ll be back in the delivery suite again before too long – and of course, it was all worth it in the end..
The first month..
It really has whizzed by – There’s been all the stereotypes you’d expect – dirty nappies, lack of sleep, colic, frantic worrying about whether he’s ok, etc, etc. But it’s really not been that bad, and we’re into a “kind of” routine that works for us.
Once again I find myself trotting out the line “I’m really glad I’m an affiliate…”, as I was able to take a full two weeks Paternity Leave off to focus entirely on Jack and Er Indoors, and following that, I can work when I want around feeds, nappie changes, baths etc – If I was still in the Day Job, I’d have been expected back in the office for 9am Monday morning where I would be chained to my desk until 5pm every day (at least I could get some sleep then though… lol)
Whereas as an affiliate, I can stay up until 4am watching Chuck Norris films (it’s not ALL crap TV on in the middle of the night) with my boy whilst Er Indoors gets a good 4/5 hours sleep, then head to bed myself, sleep till lunchtime and then get to work throughout the afternoon.
Going forward..
I’ve already found that I’ve got a LOT less time since Jack’s been on the scene, and I’m determined that I’m gonna be there to watch him grow up, so I’m learning to say NO a lot more.
I’m not taking on new projects, I’m not promising to promote every merchant that asks, and I’m prioritizing with a ruthless streak – when you’ve only got an hour at a time to focus on work, you realise that all the crap you fill the working day with is just a waste of time, and so I’m working slightly less hours than I’m used to at the moment, but I’m still achieving just as much as I can working 100 hours a week.
Someone said to me just after Jack was born “That’s it – your life goals and work goals will change forever now”, and they’re spot on – I no longer want to be the best affiliate on the block.. I just wanna be the best dad possible to Jack, and I’m not gonna achieve that by working every hour of every day – I’ll be the only tax-paying dad at every school assembly, sports day and swimming lesson – and that’s all thanks to Affiliate Marketing
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Aww bless him, I have been waiting for this post for a month! Can’t wait to meet the wee nipper in person! Big kisses to him and ‘er indoors’
Conratulations Mate and all the best to the family. You’ll get used to the gorey stuff after the 3rd time and don’t believe in Colic just get into a routine as soon as possible.
Big congratulations to you all. I think you’ve summed up nicely the emotions you go through when you become a dad for the first time! You’ll probably find you blub at things you shouldn’t blub at (Eastenders, X-Factor etc) – if it hasn’t happened yet, it will
)
Enjoy the time – I know everyone says it, but it really does fly by.
All the best
Graham
Congrats. All the best.
I enjoyed reading that, apart from the blood and gore bit! Well done John & family all the best for the future!
Congrats John (& family). I know what you mean about not being able to do a damn thing during labour. I think it’s all about keeping a poker face and being non-commital – god forbid you say “it’ll be over soon” then it isn’t.
Welcome to the club
+
Great choice of names
He’s beautiful John! I have to say I wasn’t a big fan of the birth description, not at all what I wanted to hear, LOL.
I’m glad you are loving being a Dad and that affiliate marketing is fitting in well with the lifestyle.
Congratulations xxx
Congratulations again.
I have four children and still manage to get a lot done so there is no excuses
They sure do change your priorities but also I believe I am more productive now as you learn the value of time and you have to be organized.
See you at A4U!
He looks just great. Congratulations!
Having kids certainly does change your outlook on life.
You start having dreams and aspirations for them, rather than yourself.
We have 2 kids (3yrs) (1yr)
+ misus is expecting another in January, so we will be kept on our toes for a good while yet.
I agree that what better job could you have than affiliate marketing to give you the flexibility to make sure your there to witness all the best bits of watching them grow up.
Enjoy!
Mike
Lovely to catch up with the Family Lammo … was just wondering how you were doing … fab photos of the little chap.
The moments after Jack arrived sound very scary … glad he’s ok now. Evie went a funny colour just after she was born and scared the living daylights out of us too.
Huge sympathies with Mrs Lammo … didn’t enjoy the forceps much myself … enjoyed the resulting 3rd degree tear and piles even less!!
Evie was 6 weeks old yesterday (Monday 28th) … she weighed in at 7lbs 8oz at the clinic on Friday which made me wince at the thought of giving birth to her at that size!
It’s fab being a parent though isn’t it
)
I still can’t really believe it and each day as Evie’s face changes or she does something new it’s just an absolute joy … we really are very lucky.
Take care
Hugs to you all
Sue, Kev and Evie Rose
P.S. Nightmare trying to add two numbers together for your spam protection … I currently have the brain capacity of an M&M!