Baby Diary: Day 1 - Sheer Excitement
Jacaranda FM's Marius van der Walt became a dad earlier this week and he shares his first moments of parenthood with us.
I really never knew or gave much thought as to how quickly a baby comes once you are in the theater - wham, bam, thank you ma'am and there she is.
Your life-altering moment moves at pace, and there barely seems time to record the precious moment for posterity. The speed at which it all moves is probably a good thing, because if you really had time to ponder about it all you would probably crap yourself. It is just the most startling, indescribable moment of your life.
To meet your own child, a life that you have made, after 9 months of dreaming and waiting is a truly remarkable event.
Sure, getting married to the love of your life is obviously right up there, as is meeting a hero or travelling a city that you've always wanted to see.
But that moment you are given your first child to hold, cannot be described as anything but a religious experience.
Though the excitement and the tears I did what any parent would do, and made sure that Emmalin had all her fingers and toes. One would imagine that the moment is so big that one would forget, but nature just kicks in and the parental instinct takes over.
Parental instinct that you soon realise will only get you so far, especially for two complete novices.
I will never forget the moment, as soon as the three of us were safely back in our hospital room. Emmalin started crying for the first time, wanting something. My wife and i just looked at each other.
"So what do we do now?"
"I don't know"
"Well, I don't know either.."
And we both burst out laughing, partly out of sheer terror.
I managed to pick Emmalin up, and she actually stopped crying.
Winning that first battle, I was acutely aware of the war to come.