If your goals are to maximize personal pleasure or to amass possessions, power and fame then kids are inconvenient. On the other hand, kids are ideal If you are interested in personal growth.
Cute.
How long do they keep mother and baby in the hospital, in France?
Yes… very cute, and having kids doesn’t mean the end of persung one’s ambition 
We actually didn’t do things the standard way, I wanted to talk about this a bit. When the wifo found out she was preggo, I suggested to her that she check out if giving birth naturally might be a good option. I didn’t know anything about it myself and wasn’t particularly set on doing it that way, it was just a suggestion. It hadn’t even occurred to her, most women in the Western world just go the full hospital drugged-up/c-section route, and until I suggested it, that was just the plan. But she did some research and soon decided that natural is the way to go.
So, for about six months prior to the birth, we had bimonthly meetings with a midwife. He would advise us on various aspects of pregnancy and give explanations about what was going to happen during the birth so that when the time came, we were all on the same page.
So, when the day came, we went to a special natural-birthing clinic that we had rented a room in. She started having mild contractions at like 5AM, we got to the clinic about 10AM. She spent probably a good third of the time in a warm bath we had set up. She also walked around and did some stretches at the advisement of the midwife, to help Summer to find her way down. That would be unheard of in a standard French hospital – you’re on your back and drugged up from the 1st second.
Around 7-ish she went into full-on labor, having heavier contractions every 3 minutes. We went to the delivery room (also with a warm bath – how luxurious) and began preparing for the final stage. Around 8:30 she started the “pushing” part of the whole deal. The only unnatural (and barely) intervention the whole time happened around then – he broke her water when everything was sort of stagnating, to get it all going again. We worked hard for the next hour and 20 minutes and then my baby came.
We spent about 30 minutes all together alone, and then we weighed and measured her. We spent the night there and left around noon the next morning.
She’s super-healthy, and very well acclimated to the world. Way more than a baby who’d been c-sectioned into the world would be at 2 days old. She’s really strong as well. She’s got legs like a fucking ox. She’s suckin’ them titties like a pro too. She’s really good at it.
There are so many advantages to natural birth. Believe it or not, it’s actually more comfortable for the mother, and it’s certainly a better experience for the baby. Anybody who’s reading this who’s planning on having a baby in the near future, please do, for your sake and your baby’s, check out natural birth and determine for yourself if it’s a good option. I think you’ll find it is.
If only. It’s not as cut and dry as you think. I don’t want to derail this thread so do some research if you want to know more.
This little passage is such a lovely example of fatherly pride - you’d never get a mother saying this.
Congrats and well done.
Well, no - she’d say “she’s sucking these titties like a pro”.
Congratulations, FJ! Fatherhood’s a great thing for getting stuff in perspective.
I’m amazed at my own ability to comfort her. Sometimes when she’s screaming like crazy, mom won’t be able to do anything for her, grandma won’t be able to quiet her down either, but once she gets in my hands, we listen to some music, I sing to her a bit and she quiets down really quick. It’s such a sweet experience.
Your posts can’t be beat for pure entertainment value.
You have theoretical knowledge based on reading academic papers. I raised my kids to adulthood while running my own business. Yet, I should do research so I can know more. LOL 
I thought that was Kim, and no, I haven’t seen it/them.
Goood luck raising kids is tough, exhausting, time consuming I don’t have any but my sis does.
Also It’s been said before, but it’s true kids grow up fast, if there’s some picture or something you want to do while the’re at a certain stage do it, don’t put it off.
Congratulations, on fatherhood, FJ.
Summer is a very nice name. I used to know two sisters who were my neighbors: Summer and Sunshine. 
It looks like she already picked her favorite parent. 
Congrats, man. She’s gorgeous.
I once knew a girl called Autumn Forecast.
No shit, that’s what she was called. Poor lass.
What a quick learner! Your job just got a wee bit (a whole lot) more difficult.
She’s quite a lovely baby, FJ. Good luck and God bless. (That’s a figure of speech, by the way. 
)–Liz
Thanks everyone for the kind words.
Are you implying that your personal experience speaks for everyone else? That’s pretty dumb.
You may very well be an exception but you may also very well be wrong about your own experience.
Negative experiences associated with parenthood tend to be less salient then the positive experiences associated with parenthood even though, there tends to be much more negative experiences throughout the day then positive ones.
Recognize that you just finished telling us about a “study” that found that people were happier with X, rather than without. How do you think they do pseudo-scientific studies like that? —They just ask everyone for their opinion on the matter, and then tally them up. That’s what they do, because no scientist is going to bring a subject into a lab and test for the presence of “happiness”. So, in a nutshell, you quote a “study” likely found in a hairdresser’s magazine for middle-age women about nothing other than personal experiences, and then call it stupid that someone would broadcast their personal experiences. Please tell phyllo which drug store magazine he should be getting to do some “research”.
I am a river.
Some of my experiences apply to anyone with a child, others were the result of a specific time and place and some were unique to me. I can make a reasonable guess as to which category is applicable for a particular experience. I tailor my comments accordingly.
I’m sorry, what was that trolling thing you were taking the other day about ? Right.
Anyway, I didn’t quote any study. There are several studies, with different methodologies, that found the same results. This is something that has been known for quite some decades now.
Why do you talk out of your ass ? If you are such an original philosopher who does not echo the thought of others, why do you dismiss things without even looking at them? You look like a fool when you do so.