The point of Dad....

...at this stage seems to be very much a support role.

As a result of her op, the missus cannot lift anything heavier than a kettle for six weeks. Given that we can't live on tea and coffee alone, it's meant an awful lot of fetching and carrying for yours truly, not to mention dusting off my less than stellar culinary skills.

It's amazing what you need to manage a small baby at home - almost none of which we actually own. I'm now on first name terms with the friendly staff at Mothercare after an unbroken run of six successive days' visits, never coming away with less than a stack of equipment/clothing etc etc.

This burden is all entirely fair enough of course, and scarcely matches what the missus has had to put up with. I had no dead weight to lug around for nine months, no agonising pain during delivery, no major hormonal changes to deal with, and no spending hours with my tits out while a small creature snuffles on them like an anteater over a termite hill.

I reckon I'm getting off quite lightly...

The most inappropriately-named blog in the world...

...as I realised in the early hours of Sunday morning when the surgeon held up the small, slimy wriggling blue thing that was - and is - my son.

Right now, I feel as though it wasn't just him that was born at that moment, it was me as well. It's almost as if the whole of my life to date has been pointless, or perhaps fairer to say that from that moment on I have become a totally different person, a child with so much to learn again.

I thought I'd lived a fulfilling life up to now. I've been to some of the greatest gigs in history, experienced the highest highs, visited wonderful countries and cities, enjoyed love, sex and all of that...but you could wrap all of this up in the most beautiful wrapping paper and I wouldn't swap the lot for a minute of holding him in my hands, watching his face pull all sorts of silly expressions as he learns what he can do now he's in the outside world.

Of course this Nirvana is sure to pass, but the point of a blog like this is to capture the moment, and that's how this moment is for me right now, as I sit here at 7am getting myself ready to go back to the hospital (it was a C-section job - more of a case of reluctant son than Dad in the end!).

I'm looking forward to getting him and the missus home - it was very lonely last night, although I guess I should be grateful for a reasonably unbroken sleep.

Bloody hell, who would have thought...certainly not me anyway.

Given how foolish I feel for all my previous reservations, I'm not sure whether I'll continue this blog. Probably will though, it's good to unload my hopes and fears safe in the knowledge that just about nobody is reading it anyway!!

And still...

Beginning to wonder if he wants to come out into the world.

Mind you, I'm glad in many ways that he's not looking likely to be born on September 11th - hardly an auspicious day for your birthday.

And still nothing...

...it's like waiting for bloody Godot this.

Two down, three to go...

That's two out of the five NCT couples who've dropped so far. We're still waiting, although the due date draws ever nearer, and the missus still believes that she'll conform to the tradition of her family and deliver early.

So it could be any time from the next couple of hours right through to the end of September. I really hope it's sooner rather than later - I can't stand the sense of powerlessness over proceedings, nor the seemingly random nature of these things.

We're starting on the pineapple, raspberry leaf teas, hot curries etc etc and will see what happens.

I just want to hold the little fella, to know that it finally is reality and my new role as a dad is underway properly. Naturally the missus is super uncomfortable, so she just wants to get something approaching her body back. Understandable.

The size issues appear to have receded - scans show that he's normal apart from long legs (just like his dad had when he was born) so no early induction or any of that nonsense.

Just counting the hours/days/minutes.....