Tara and I had a bit of a scare on Friday morning that landed us in the triage unit at the hospital. The end result is that Mom and Baby are fine, but the whole experience served as an eye opener; we’re not prepared for the delivery.

We have the baby’s room setup, we have enough clothes(at least, I think we do) and we have enough of the various things that the baby would need in his first few weeks. That was all started ages ago. What we don’t have is the bag for the hospital. Which, I guess, make sense. After all, he isn’t due for another two months(give or take) so why worry about it now? Well, Friday morning told us otherwise.

Before leaving, we threw together what we thought would be helpful, in the bag that Tara brought up(she had planned on making it soonish anyway) and off we went. I learned a few things that I probably read somewhere:

• Flip flops are terrible footwear.  They’re not so bad when you’re just taking your time, and for short periods of time, but if you need to make a few trips to/from the car, forget it. The comfy shoes are going in my bag
• Snacks! Oh we needed snacks. We were admitted at 3am, and Second Cup opened at 7am. That’s a long time to go when you’re tired and kinda grumpy. Maybe some decent instant coffee for daddy.
• Distractions. We could really have used that. I stuffed an MP3 player into my pocket before I left, and while I didn’t use it, I’m glad I packed it. That and books or something else to distract me or Tara is a must. Wonder if we can pack the Wii?
• Change of clothes. Tara thought ahead and snagged a nice warm robe, and she’s very glad she did. I didn’t do anything of the sort. Fair enough, I was there for all of, well, 10 hours, but still, a change of undies would have been nice I think. Or more comfortable pants.
• Work. Maybe sure everything can be handed off at the last second. While this isn’t something that I can bring with me, it’s something that I need to do. Someone covered for me while I was out, but they even mentioned that not everything was up to date. And since I’m dealing with customers all day, they would feel better knowing that we didn’t drop the ball. So I think a new daily routine is in order. Not like I’ll stick to it, but still….

With all of this, I think we’ll be packing at least two bags. One for Tara, one for me. Mind you, mine will be full of junk that’ll never get used, but that’s just the kind of guy I am 😉

But, as I mentioned, the whole thing opened our eyes a little. While it was fair of us to not be completely ready, we’re also a little more aware that it could happen any time now really.  Not that we want it to, obviously, but we should plan for the worst(as such).

Since I have some new followers that are Dad’s, what would you say is the most important thing you packed in your hospital bag?

When Tara and I were planning the wedding, she would go, daily, to these wedding blogs. In there would be tips, tricks, ideas and horror stories. Also, stories of things that went well. But in general, they were a helpful resource for the planning, and I think that the wedding turned out amazing.

Now that I’m going to be a Dad, I was sure that there would be blogs for me that were along the same lines as the wedding ones. I started to look late last week, and on Friday added a whole ton more. I’ll include the ones I really like at the bottom. Right now I have 29 in my links, but I think I’ll be culling a lot of those as they haven’t updated in some time. However, they’re not the same ‘helpful’ resource that the wedding ones were. At least, I haven’t found one like it.

But I think this is also the nature of the beast. Planning a wedding isn’t the same has having a baby. You can plan for weddings, and you can plan for babies, but with weddings you have a little more control as to *when* things happen. Babies, not so much.

But what I am liking about these blogs, is that they’re just stories of Dads doing Dad things. In a modern age. Some of them are doing things right, some things wrong(but then trying to correct) and just giving us tales that apply to a lot of us. Or at least something that I can find similiarities in. What’s also nice is most of these guys have twitter accounts, so I added a lot of twitter noise to my day.

Now, while I stated that they’re not helpful in the same way the wedding blogs were, there is at least one Dad blog that is helpful, and their twitter feed even more so.  Z Recommends has some nice product reviews, but their twitter feed, @ZRecs_Safety, has a lot of safety recalls that, as a new Dad buying stuff, I find very helpful.

Otherwise, the blogs are a good read.

I was also going to go into detail about a video camera Tara and I  bought, but I haven’t made any video yet, so I’ll just say that we picked up a Kodak Play, with an 8gig card, for $150 from Futureshop. Seems to work, and is all about HD, but really, I haven’t played with it much.

So, for the other Dads, and Moms, reading this, do you have a list of blogs or helpful websites that you visit on a regular basis?

Here’s my initial list:

• DaddyTypes
• Dadcentric
• Dad Wagon
• Rebel Dad
• Rice Daddies
• ThingamaBaby
• Z Recommends
• New York Dad’s
• Papa Rock’s6
• Life of Dad
• Luke, I am your Father
• Cute Monster
• Dad gone Mad
• Daddy Yo Blog
• Dadvocate
• Why is Daddy Crying
• Go Pop Go
• Distracted Daddy
• Dad of Divas

Happy Reading

• @twistedxtian Had the same problem with ours. There was a 6-10 week waiting period though(at the time) to get the part in. in reply to twistedxtian #

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No, don’t go looking for weeks 1-28; they’re not there.

This is something new that I wanted to start. I think it’s because I started reading a bunch of daddy blogs. Tara has all these blogs that she reads, and it’s high time I read some too! Granted, the ones I read are more like normal blogs(with some exceptions) than the ones she reads, which are more helpful 😉

I’ve bookmarked a bunch, and will bookmark a bunch more, and then cull, and then probably forget about.

With the due date quickly approaching, I realize that there’s a ton of stuff I really need to do with the basement. Like finish it. I have 5 outlets installed down there, but not connected to anything. But to do this properly, I need an additional wall, a few more outlets, a wall with a door in it, some cheapo flooring, and the oomph to do it all well before November 1st.

Or October 27th, as that’s when the c-section is planned. So, I should get cracking! And I will, I swear it.

I’ve also been reading.  Tara checked out Sharing Birth: A Father’s Guide to Giving Support During Labor. It looks like it was written in the 80’s  by hippies. And I think it was. But don’t let that fool you, it’s actually rather helpful, if not somewhat outdated. But there are parts in there that just might get me killed.

Should labor begin at night, encourage your partner to rest. The general recommendation is “Go back to sleep”…

Really? Go back to sleep? I’d be killed. And all throughout the book it has us reminding our partner to pee. Tara stated that, if I remind her once or twice, that’s ok. If I keep mentioning it, she’ll have me tag out with her mother. And I might not be allowed to tag back in.

We’re also thinking of getting a video camera. The Kodak Playsport has been getting some really good reviews, and it’s $150(with an 8 gig card) at Futureshop right now, so I think it’s the thing to get. It’s not going to  be the top of the line, but again, it’s $150, so really…there you go.

Enough for this week. Stay tuned for next week!

Tara and I got our official marrage license in the mail today.

We’ve been waiting some time to get it, and I think it’s been, well, 10 weeks. However, there’s a small typo.

Apparently, my birthplace has been moved to Albania.

This is the first thing I thought of….Damn you 80’s TV!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F_tT-q8EF0