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Home › Articles › Stay-at-home Dads › That's My Job

That's My Job

A Journey to Become a Stay-at-Home Dad

By Michael Sheridan

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But aside from back rubs and foot massages, fatherhood is pretty much just a waiting game at this stage. The woman is stuck doing all the work, and the husband is just left to stand around and make late-night runs to the corner store for donuts.

Baby Comes Home
The birth of my son was . How do you describe such an emotional experience? He was delivered via C-section, and the first moment I saw him was a blurred image of a small face covered in blood. I was invited to peek over the curtain, but the moment I stood and caught a glimpse of my boy, the hand of the anesthesiologist was on my shoulder shoving me back down.

It wasn't until a week later that he was able to come home. Concerns about infection kept him in the hospital. A torturous time, but one that ended happily.

My wife was much more confident handling him than I was. I had no compulsions of changing diapers or feeding him, but I know I was a bit clumsy at the latter. However, after three weeks it was just the two of us, my son and me, and my efforts to find work continued to lead nowhere. I managed a few freelance gigs from time to time, but that was about the run of it.

Me and My Shadow
The days and nights were divided into four-hour segments. Each segment consisted of three things: feed the baby; change the baby; put the baby to sleep – and not necessarily in that order. And, of course, the amount of diapers you go through varies.

But that was pretty much the schedule for the day. Some days the frustrations would eat at me. It was rare that I had any time to get some writing done or simply relax, and there were times when I lost my temper. I don't like to think of those times much. Not because anything bad happened, nothing even remotely like that. It was mostly because I'm often famous for being laid back. It takes a lot to get my blood boiling. Yet for some reason, as much as I loved being with my son and taking care of him, I was unhappy, and there were moments when that unhappiness translated into anger.


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