I'm Going To Be A Father!

A few weeks ago my girlfriend of 9 years came to my town. We were going down to a gig in my hometown. The drummer of the band I'm in was playing with another band and we planned to head down and see them. Myself, my dad, and the guitar player of the band were hanging out together having a few beers and listening to some music. When my girlfriend got in, she called me into my room and told me that she done a pregnancy test and it was positive, I instantly gave her a hug and was delighted about the news. We still went to the gig and no one noticed she was drinking 7-up lol.

Slowly, we started to tell our nearest and dearest and recently we went down and had a scan.

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The Scan
It was a pretty surreal experience I have to say. Seeing the baby in real time was just crazy and made it that much more real. As we sat there laughing at the little thing, it started to move, which was even crazier! It stretched out its legs and turned on its side, only to move back into its original resting position. It was almost like it was telling us to shut up and that it was trying to sleep.

While there, we found out it had a heart rate of 161 bpm and the nurse said that was great, as it should be anywhere from 100-200 bpm. Hearing it was amazing too, I'd love to use it to write a song in that tempo or something.

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The Gender
We have no idea yet, so long as it's healthy, I don't care what it is! Right now, it is about 14 weeks old and we will be finding out the gender at some point in November!

I really can't believe it, it's been 9 years, so it was bound to happen eventually. The way things are now here in Ireland, there are very few houses to rent and the cost of living is ridiculous right now. We would both obviously like to have our own place to live, right now she lives with her parents and I live with my dad, each of the families are delighted and don't mind us staying in either house or mixing and matching. But, we have decided that in the few weeks coming up to the due date I'll live in her house and for a month or two after I'll stay there until she has recovered, and after that when the baby is a bit bigger, we'll be able to freely move between my town and hers. The distance isn't far, only about 20 Kilometers. So, it won't be hard for my family to come down and visit and the occasional trips back and forth won't be a problem.

This next one I keep getting in trouble with my girlfriend for sharing it with people, but, I think it's my favourite out of all the pictures! But, she thinks I'm making fun of it lol.

Honestly, it looks like an Alien! ^ It's like Predator or something lol

Source

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Was It Planned?
No, not at all, but, we're both really happy. In this day and age, I don't know if anyone really sits down to plan their lives like this. Maybe they do, but, I certainly wouldn't.

We had spoken about kids, marriage, and all of these things, as you do when you're in a long-term relationship. But, there were always roadblocks in the way of life. A reason not to do, this, that, and the other. Neither of us are financially well off and neither of us has any kind of plan for a house or whatever. We both have ideas and are thinking of ways to do these things, but the way Ireland is at the moment, it isn't easy.

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I'm Excited
I can't wait to do all the things, like, I know it sounds a bit sappy. But, the things like teaching it to ride a bike or teach it to tie its shoes, or getting one of my mates around on Christmas eve, dressed as Santa Claus, I think that would be hilarious. Little things like that will be amazing. Being able to introduce it to Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and others of our favourite films and tv shows, as it gets older.

I have a ridiculous amount of Star Wars toys I've collected over the years, all the vintage stuff from the 70s and 80s and a bunch of the 90s Hasbro stuff. I also have a bunch of mint in their box vintage figures from the 70s and 80s as well as a boxed Chewbacca from the 90s signed by Peter Mayhew. I'll be saying. "Here, you can have all this stuff! Not these ones though, we only look at the boxed figures, because these are you college fund." lol.

I can't wait to teach it music, being able to sit down when it gets a bit older and teach it how to play bass or strum the few cords I know on guitar. Teach it how to write stories and help it hone some creative skills in general from an early age, between me, its mother, family, and family friends, we have so many creative outlets, which will be amazing to be able to pass on.

I know, it's going to be an individual and I'm not going to force any of my own beliefs or passions onto the kid, I'd like it to think for itself and if I can help it along its way, I will. I think it would be cool to introduce it to a bunch of different things, then let the kid discover their own passion or aptitude for certain things and then encourage it to go in that direction. I think the important thing is to introduce all of these different things and let them decide.

I can't wait to introduce it to Punk Rock, true Punk, not the televised rebellion being sold by the music industry. Music in general will be really cool to introduce the kid to! Me and it's mother have so many loves and influences, which are fairly different but mainly alternative, all be it different sides of it. I'm more into underground stuff and my girlfriend is more into metal and stuff like that. We have introduced each other to so many bands.

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Creativity
I think creativity is one of the most important things humans have at their disposal and it is a skill that has to be honed. Some people can be more creative than others, but, it isn't purely by chance, it's from practice.

It's also important, because, if you're frustrated or sad, you will always be able to turn to your preferred outlet and let it out, in a healthy way. You will also never be bored if you can create. Sculpting, art, poetry, music, stories, and many more activities like these are amazing I think, and can really help people. There is something amazing about creating something out of essentially nothing, taking a few raw ingredients and creating something beautiful and completely unique to the creator. Kind of like making a baby.

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Anyway, that's the news I wanted to share with this great community, Hive has been such a big part of my life since I joined about 10 months ago and when the kid is old enough, I'll surely be getting them on here.

I really want my girlfriend to come on here too, so she can blog about what she's going through, it's not easy on her and it'll most likely get harder, but, I'm giving her as much emotional support as she needs. I know she doesn't really have much time to blog and stuff, but, I think using it to document her experience for the future, would be a really cool idea!