Becoming A Daddy
By Carl Diers

I remember when our son Matthew was born. Two days before, my wife, Shelly, seemed to be in labor. However, it stopped and we went back home. We had our next pre-natal visit the next day and the mid-wife informed us that the baby was in breech position. Later that day, they tried to turn the baby, but with no luck. An ultra-sound was performed to determine the size. We found out that this was going to be a big baby! After considering all the options, we decided to do a C-Section.

We hadn't expected it would be like this. Up to then, Shelly was having a textbook pregnancy. We did a lot of praying.

Even with the ultrasound we didn't know if we were going to have a boy or a girl. We liked two boy names, but we couldn't decide which one. It was either going to be Andrew Carlton or Matthew William. We decided that we would know which name to use once the baby was born.

When they took the baby out, they wanted me to tell Shelly what we had. They handed this 9 pound baby to me, and I said with a joyful tear, "It's a boy!" Then Shelly and I looked at each other, and spoke at the same time, "He's a Matthew!"

While Shelly was recovering, I was holding my brand new son. I am sure I was holding him like he was made of glass and could break easily. I just know that I fell in love with my son right away.

Every daddy will have a diferent story. Yet, no matter how things went, there are no words to describe the joy and tenderness of that moment they first became a dad.

Carl Diers

About the Author

Carl is a computer programmer in upstate New York.
He is the daddy of a precious 4-month old son.
His wife is a stay-at-home mom.
Visit Carl's Website
[an error occurred while processing this directive]