I have young kids. This was my day today.
6:20 – alarm goes off, kids (2 and 5 years old) hear it and come lay on top of me in bed, absolute best part of the day. Get out of bed and get everyone dressed, breakfast, and packed up.
7:25 – pull up at school, oldest says her throat hurts, she feels hot on her head and chest, so no school for her, everyone back in the car
8:00 – drop off 2-year-old at daycare and head back home with the oldest
8:30 – set her up on the couch, take her temp, give her advil, call the school, call work, call my wife
9:30 – daughter is worried and crying, sit with her until she falls asleep, I get up and pull her sheets, my sheets, and her brother’s sheets off the bed so they can be washed
10:00 – daughter wakes up and is nauseous, get her up and moving and go to the urgent care clinic
12:00 – back home, she threw up in the waiting room (we had a bucket), strep test negative, so doctor says to just treat symptoms and take antibiotics (and it might still be strep, yay). Get her liquids and some soup she doesn’t want.
12:30 to 3:00 – try to get some work done with all the things I was supposed to do today. Make sure my daughter has everything she needs and plenty of My Little Pony queued up on the tv.
3:15 – leave daughter with my wife and go to a parent teacher conference with her kindergarten teacher, pick up antibiotics at the pharmacy on the way home
4:00 – back home, eat lunch, check on everyone, make plans how we’re going to take care of my daughter tomorrow, because she won’t be going to school
4:45 – head out to pick up the boy from preschool
6:15 – get home, start dinner
7:00 – eat dinner, put sheets on the beds because I forgot to while doing the rest
7:45 – wash the kids separately
8:30 – read stories and put the kids to bed, knock out some dishes
9:00 – boy is up and coughing, but not hot, put him back down. I’ll have to check on him a couple times tonight to see if he has whatever his sister has.
Today was some extra drama because of the sickness, but it’s also pretty typical. From 6:20 in the morning until 9ish at night, I’m either working or taking care of my kids. Every single day, 7 days a week (kids don’t understand weekends). With a few variations, that’s been true for the last 5 years and I don’t see that it’s going to change any time soon.
In a nutshell, that’s parenting. If you love them, and can handle the grind of them taking over your life completely, you’re as ready as anyone.
Be honest with yourself, your fiance, and everyone else involved. If it works out that you’re going to be a father now, congratulations, love that baby more than anything else in the world.