An Indiana mom has recalled what happened when she asked her husband to “watch the baby” after she had given birth.
It goes without saying that moms suffer the brunt of things when it comes to labor and the early stages of childcare, but dads are undoubtedly put through the wringer too.
A 2017 study published in the journal BMC Pregnancy Childbirth saw 11 fathers interviewed about their own often “traumatic” experiences of seeing their partner give birth. Shared experiences emerged.
Many talked about the “rollercoaster of emotion” that came with the speed and unexpectedness of events. How their thoughts veered from fears of death to distress, to trying to “keep it together” to ultimately feeling helpless.
When Jenna English and her husband Max welcomed their son Nash into the world last October, it was a shock to both of them.
“My waters broke three weeks early,” English told Newsweek. “So my birth plans were thrown out the window straight away.”
Even when Nash arrived, there was an understandable sense of anxiety about having to care for another human life. “Max was scared to death,” English recalled. “Neither one of us slept the entire time we were in the hospital.”
There were still moments of levity along the way though, as English recounted in a video posted to her TikTok account @jennakingeryyy.
In the clip, she explains how, after giving birth and caring for Nash in those first few hours, she decided to go take a long shower. Her instructions to Max were simple: “watch the baby.”
TikTok/@jennakingeryyy
So that’s exactly what he did. Quite literally. When English returned 50 minutes later, he was still standing there in front of a sleeping Nash.
English asked him: “What are you doing?” to which Max replied: “You told me to watch him.” According to a caption accompanying the clip, the understandably nervous first-time dad had been “afraid to touch” his newborn son.
Thankfully for all concerned, things have changed considerably since then and it didn’t take long for Max to get used to the idea of being a dad.
“Once we got home, it took him about a week to comfortably walk while holding him,” English said, noting that Max’s behavior in the hospital was likely influenced by his lack of sleep up until that point.
Ultimately, nearly a year down the road, they can look back and laugh and know that there will be plenty of new moms and dads out there who have gone through something similar.
“Being a new parent is scary regardless, but I think it’s extra for the dads,” English said. “But he’s very used to it now! Our son is 10 and a half months old and loves a rough house. He’s definitely no longer a fragile tiny baby he’s afraid to touch.”