Congrats.
Watch for amusing, anecdote-worthy weird behavior.
To wit:
1. My daughter is possessed by Satan. Sometimes, for no reason, she'll start talking like Linda Blair in "Repossessed" when Satan was speaking through her.
2. My daughter is a Parselmouth. Sometimes, again for no reason, she'll make whispery/hissy noises. I'm tempted to buy a pet snake just to see what happens, but my cats would kill it.
3. My daughter thinks everything is a telephone, and holds it up to her ear and says "hm. Hm. Hm." I think she's copying her grandmother, with whom she spends a few days a week while the wife and I are at work.
4. My daughter hugs the cat. I don't know why. I guess because she's soft. (The cat.)
Stuff like that.
If you don't have a videocamera, you might want to invest. And check the flash speed of your still camera -- my digital camera has a double-flash (like most do) except there's too much of a delay between the first and second flashes so her eyes are always closed. Spend a few extra bucks if you don't have one that flashes fast enough. Ask other parents if you're not sure.
If you have the financial resources, or someone willing to gift one to you, retain a
doula. We did -- my grandparents helped; her fee was $550 -- and it was totally worth it. You get someone who is your personal advocate through the entire labor process. She (it's usually a woman, but conceivably a man could do it too) helps you decide when to go to the hospital, answers quick questions that usually take a doctor half a day to return your call on, helps you make decisions that doctors, nurses, and others at the hospital try to hurry you through, knows a metric buttload about ways to make labor easier, will often take pictures if you would like (so you don't have to), and keeps a file on everything dad and mom want, need, would like, would not like, and is against the religion of. (IE: even though we knew we were having a girl, because we're Jewish we made sure the doula knew to ensure there would be no circumcision done in the hospital, just in case it turned out to be a boy somehow.) Having the doula with us made the whole procedure so much less stressful, especially since we didn't have to go run and find a nurse for everything, and -- even better -- when it got to be time to push, she tactfully ushered my in-laws out of there because my wife and I were busy.
*takes breath*
Okay, enough dad talk.
Congrats again.
