3 ridiculous comments I made as a new dad

Being new to newborns, and being green to the whole experience it was inevitable I was going to have some preconceived ideas as to how it was going to be. There we’re times I was even so naive to believe it was going to be an easy ride. I know – it’s hilarious isn’t it!

As a first timer, and looking back in retrospect and slight embarrassment at some of the ridiculous thoughts, and passing comments I made along the way. I thought I’d list a few of them, in no order of foolishness.

1.  All they do is sleep, this could be a lot easier than everyone has told me it would be.

This bonkers thinking was precipitated by my experience with preemies. As the babies were seven weeks premature, all they did was sleep, wake up for a feed then go back to sleep. I remember sharing this experience of my perfect sleeping triplets to the other dad’s at work with an almost smugness, after they had all told me I would be most likely be riding into the gates of parental hell with three babies to deal with. And once they hit their due date and their hormone’s kicked in I had no smugness. Just the realisation my fantasy of three perfect sleeping babies was now smashed into a million pieces. I was wrong. horribly wrong.

Now, I’m not a superstitious man. I don’t believe I have the universal powers to change events in the world by opening my mouth and uttering a few words. But I do believe a stupid comment can quite happily boomerang to bite me on the arse. As it has done many times in my life. Here’s one example.

2. Teething isn’t that bad.

And to begin with it wasn’t. We had a few grizzlies and sore bums but all in all I really didn’t know what all the fuss was about. And then came…….The molars. And with the molars came the ear infections, the viruses and the edge if sanity for my wife and me. It was horrendous. There may be exceptions to the rule, babies who sail through the process. But for us, dealing with the triplets while those bad boys pushed through wasn’t easy. Once agin I had allowed myself to get complacent along with my expectations. Teething sucks!

3. They’re sleeping really well at the moment

What was I thinking! Another comment thrown out in the earlier months to anyone who happened to ask if we got any sleep. Again I don’t believe I can change the course of worldly events with my comments. Yet every time I dropped that comment, we could pretty much guarantee that the babies would then go through some sort of hormonal brain leap that would totally unsettle them and hurl us once again into sleep deprivation, onset insanity and involuntary eye twitching. Lesson learned. Just say nothing.

I have learned over time as a newby not to have expectations. And not to get complacent when things are running smoothly. Being a parent is about rolling with the punches and going with the flow. Things can change in an instant. The best I can do is be prepared for anything. And not to think I have any real idea as what my babies may do next.