“People who say they sleep like a baby usually don’t have one” - Leo Burke. It has been a really fun learning curve for me and my wife introducing our first born into this world. We have had the blessing of learning many new things. From feeding to time management and most importantly how to raise a dang baby. I am a full time career firefighter and my schedule consists of 48 hours on shift and 96 hours at the house. There are many pros and cons with my schedule. First off the obvious pro is I am able to stay home with my wife and new baby for four days at a time. This allows me and my wife to tag team raising baby Bleu during my four days off. During my four days off it is so nice because we are able to get into a routine and learn what works best and what doesn’t work at all. The biggest con with the job is being a part of emergency scenes that stick with you. One minute you're on scene of a bad wreck and exposed to things that are hard to see sometimes. Then twelve hours later you are home and expected to be the happy go lucky husband and dad that left the day before. I've had to learn to leave my work at the station and through my relationship with the Lord and being able to decompress with my wife I would like to think I do a decent job of this. The other kicker is I have to leave for two days and go work in a city two hours away. During this time Bleu likes to disregard his routine and give his mama fits. I feel super guilty when Bleu is being difficult and I’m at work for another day and a half and there is nothing I can do to help. Another part of this I struggle with is being away from my family. I know I’m only gone for 48 hours but part of me still feels like I’m missing out on watching him grow. The little dude is growing so fast and it seems like he learns something new every time I come home. The day I come home from work is definitely the hardest. Bleu knows that dad has come back home and you can expect no naps and a very difficult time getting him to bed for the night. I didn’t know babies could have fomo at just 4 months old haha. Depending on how busy the shift was I need to shower and take a nap and unpack. So sometimes Parker is taking care of Bleu for close to 60 hours. The work schedule has been a hurdle but overall I would choose it over a typical 40 hour work week. Another thing that has been fun to learn is making time for each other and as weird as it sounds not focusing 100 percent on the baby. My wife comes before my child, period. Me and my wife have been able to find time in our schedule to be with each other. It’s not always a romantic dinner but we do escape to the gym, on a walk, and sometimes sneak away for a date night. Together we have made a conscious effort to continually put each other first. I am the type of person that a challenge is fun, the challenges of raising a baby have been a blast. I have learned dozens of new things. I had no idea that babies have six different types of lotion and soap. I also recently learned a trick with diapers is to make sure the little flap is out completely so you only have to wipe his little butt and not his back and butt. I’ve had the blessing of watching a small newborn grow and learn and develop into a four month old. I’ve really enjoyed watching my wife grow into a mom, watching her love and care for her child is pretty dang neat. But that’s my small snippet of being a new dad as a firefighter. I hope my dyslexic blog wasn’t too terribly hard to follow.
- Jake Kirkpatrick career firefighter Professional dad