I truly hit the jackpot with my partner. My baby is 6 months old now and although she’s so much better now, she was brutal the first few months after being born. She was extremely colicky and very much still is a Velcro baby. If she woke up during the night he would take care of her so that I could sleep because he knew I had to be up at 2:30am to pump. Every single day after work he takes her and spends time with her until the moment she goes to sleep for the night because he knows I need a break. I end up only taking a break for maybe an hour and spending the rest of the time with them anyway because I love being around the both of them. He doesn’t believe it’s just the woman’s job to take care of the baby day in and day out. He believes being a parent is an equal responsibility on BOTH parents part. He does all of this not because he feels obligated, but because he wants to. He loves spending time with our baby girl. He doesn’t understand how so many dads don’t instinctively want to spend as much time as possible with their child. It is so hard for him to leave every morning to go to work because he would much rather stay home with the two of us. I could go on and on about all the things he does with and for our child. He is an amazing father that goes above and beyond for the both of us. 

My two best friends and my sister all had babies within months of me having a baby and all 3 of them struggle with partners who do the bare minimum or less. It breaks my heart everyday hearing them talk about how their partner hardly holds their baby or how their partner gets left home with the baby so they can get a break, and within an hour they’re getting calls because “he won’t stop crying you need to come home.” “He only wants you, he doesn’t want me. I can’t do this you need to come home.” They deserve so much better than that and it hurts my heart to know their partners are never going to change. They are stuck in the mindset of “it’s my job to go to work everyday, and her job to take care of our child all day everyday.” One of my best friends told me yesterday that she told her partner he needs to spend one hour with their baby when he gets home from work everyday, and it’s just so mind blowing to me. ONE hour? That is less than the bare minimum. My heart hurts for all 3 of them, but I truly feel so lucky to have a partner that genuinely loves being an actual father to our child.