Today I decided that I wanted to brag on my sweet husband a little. Most of you know that Jonathan is a medical student. He is working through his clerkship right now which basically means he's working at the hospital or a clinic as part of his training while also studying for his shelf exams and his board certification exams. Those things keep him VERY busy. We've been SO blessed that his timeline in his current Internal Medicine rotation has afforded him the opportunity to be home with me and Greysen quite a bit. I seriously don't know what I would do without him...
I worried during pregnancy, like probably all women do, that bringing a baby home would totally stress him out. His job right now requires long hours from him, and I fretted that a baby who was up every 2 hours would just kick his butt. I didn't want that! But let me tell you, there was a miraculous change that happened in my husband the literal second that our beautiful son was born!
The second that they put Greysen up on my chest, he became a Daddy...just like I became a Mommy! I don't think Daddy's get quite enough credit for this in the mainstream media. Dads are made out to seem incompetent (look through the baby clothes at any store and you'll find onesies that dog on the ability of dads to care for little ones). I thought that I would have to walk Jonathan through every little detail of caring for an infant (as if I had any real knowledge myself!). But I was SO totally wrong about that!
He never once was uncomfortable holding Greysen. The first night in the hospital, while he was bedded down across the room on the pull out couch, he was constantly sitting up in bed and checking on me and the baby...worrying about us and making sure we were both ok. Ever since Greysen has been here, he has been nothing but supportive. He wakes up at night to change diapers and feed and snuggle Greysen without hesitation if I need him to. Every evening around 9:30 we begin Greysen's bedtime routine. That includes a bath by Mommy and a lavender lotion leg massage by Daddy. Then I nurse him while Jonathan tackles the task of washing and disinfecting bottles. He makes me a glass of Mother's Milk tea every night and preps all the bottles we will need for overnight so that I don't have to leave our bed to feed Greysen at 3:00 AM. He has taken over cooking meals for us and cleaning the kitchen. He helps with laundry, he's made countless trips to Walmart or Babies R Us to grab last minute items that we've needed. He has been INCREDIBLY supportive of my breastfeeding endeavors right down to sitting next to me and helping to position Greysen or even my breast correctly to get a good latch working. He valiantly fields my hormonal meltdowns and always says the right things to make me feel better. There have been moments in mothering where I have totally freaked out and he has been completely cool headed and methodical about fixing the problem (i.e.-the time Greysen started gagging on some mouth goo...I panicked and Jonathan calmly got the bulb syringe and sucked out the goo from his throat...phew!)...
My husband is a new man now that this sweet little baby is a part of our lives. His paradigms have shifted just like mine have. It makes my heart soar when I see Greysen contentedly focusing on his Daddy's face. When Jonathan scoops him up and snuggles him into the crook of this arm or Greysen falls peacefully asleep on his chest, I just can hardly contain the love I feel for my two dudes. Just like in our dating years and in our marriage, Jonathan is my literal other half. He completes the parts of me that are lacking and he holds me up and loves me and Greysen better than anyone could. He is sacrificial in his love too, because honestly he'd have every right to tap out at 11:00 every night and bed down with some ear plugs so he could be good and rested for the next day's work. Instead he dutifully cares for me and for his son without regard to his own needs sometimes. My gratitude for who he is in my life and in Greysen's life probably can't be fully expressed in words. I know new motherhood has created times where I forget to tell him how much I appreciate him or how much I love him. I do try but I get overwhelmed with everything sometimes...those are the times that at 2:00 AM I am lying awake after a feeding kicking myself for not expressing those things to him. The man should get a medal for the amazing father and husband that he is. I know I'm a lucky girl!
So I say all that to say this: husbands and daddies deserve more credit than they get. Jonathan is the kind of man who steps up to help even when he's not asked to. I think most new dads would relish the opportunity to take on tasks that make them feel needed and necessary in caring for an infant. I can say with full confidence that my Jonathan is NEEDED and NECESSARY when it comes to caring for Greysen. I literally don't know what I would do without him...
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