Being on holiday is not an excuse forgo showering. Photo / Getty Images
Tim Roxborogh on the joys of (fatherhood and) moaning about your holidays.
Men who think being on holiday means you don't have to shower
At 4.45am on Friday, July 5, 2019, my wife gave birth to our daughter Riley and we became parents for the first time. That moment when
I first saw my own flesh and blood come into existence was the closest I've had to an out-of-body experience. In days gone by, people would've said it was like you're floating above yourself or that you somehow magically have a bird's-eye view from on high, even though you're standing on the ground.
A couple of decades deep into the 21st century and I liken it to feeling like you're watching drone footage from a movie. All the editing was so perfect too. There was the shot of Riley, squirming with life, in the hands of our midwife, Annie, for whom we'll always feel indebted. Then the camera cut away to my wife, Aimee, exhausted beyond any comprehension I'll ever know, but with joyful tears. Next the camera spun across, swooping down to catch the expression – also of tears – of my mother-in-law, Kathy, before turning around for similarly teary close-ups of my sister-in-law, Tiria and finally me. Then the drone flew upwards again to capture a final frozen-in-time snapshot of the entire emotion-filled room.
Back inside my body and several hours later, we were driving north of Auckland to the Warkworth Birthing Centre. Just as life will never be the same ever again for Aimee and me with Riley now on the scene, so too have I left behind certain misconceptions from pre-fatherhood. Things like having little idea at all about how unbelievably awesome midwives are. I think I spent my whole 37 years on Planet Earth believing that delivering children was the domain of doctors, but when you've seen your midwife with the life of your child and your wife literally in her hands, a few pennies start to drop.
