June 3rd, 2016

Movember dad JJ describes ‘The Dadtastic Voyage’ as an expectant father to his first child.

And so it begins...
3 MIN READ
I am going to be a dad, and I’ll be damned if that isn’t just one of the best feelings ever.

On December 30th around 11:00am while sitting in our parked car outside of a coffee shop, my stone cold fox of a wife unveiled that coffee wasn’t the only thing brewing…we had made a baby. What immediately transpired isn’t one of those “words cannot describe” scenarios for this guy…as a matter of fact, it was quite the opposite. Here is just a taste of the wide and varied sentiments that blazed through my brain: disbelief, relief, elation, freaked, enamored, blessed, panicked, proud, manly, scared, virile, jazzed. Talk about an experiential oxymoron, right? I was all over the place with my inner dialogue, but one thing was for sure… Katie and I were going to be parents and the Dadtastic Voyage had begun.

As we pulled out of the parking lot, so many questions came to mind, but the main one that I kept repeating was, “Are you sure your pregnant?” For whatever reason, I severely doubted the accuracy of the little stick she peed on. On the other hand, I was beyond pumped that I had taken all of my guys off the bench, threw them into the game, and got an MVP performance out of one of them. It’s like this weight off my shoulders was lifted, and that latent fear that I had fried the circuit board by keeping my cell phone tucked in my crotch while driving was completely alleviated. All that remained was triumph…and, for lack of a more eloquent term, “Oh shit, this is happening.”

While I’ve had some pretty amazing dad moments already in the six months Katie has been pregnant, the moment that sticks out the most is that first doctor’s appointment. I like to think that I was calm, cool, and collected as we walked into that appointment, but at least on the inside, I was anything but. I had done my homework and knew what this first visit was all about and even had some solid questions lined up for the good doctor. Calm, cool, and collected slowly started to dissipate, beginning with me walking in and crushing my shin on the stirrup, then realizing that there is someone other than you between your wife’s legs. The one that brought down the whole steely charade was seeing our little eight-week old baby on the sonogram screen and hearing a heartbeat for the first time.

It was in that moment that I knew we were going to be fine…no actually, we were going to be great. Because in that moment, I realized that deep down Katie and I were answering a personal calling. It’s like part of why we were put on this earth is to be parents and part of how we’ll leave this world a better place is by leaving what’s best of us in this kid of ours.

As I embark on my first Father’s Day as an almost dad I am even more proud of the work we do here at the Movember Foundation. We’re working to make sure all fathers, uncles, brothers, grandpas, and mentors live happier, healthier, longer lives. That’s the kind of world I want my child to grow up in. It’s all sunshine and roses right now. The Dadtastic Voyage continues!

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