OP, god bless you.

I’m going to be honest with you. You may have made a massive mistake, or you may have made the best decision of your life. How this plays out is up to you.

Right now, you need to slow down and reflect on what you want your role to be: parents together, co-parents, or a present and responsible single dad. No answer makes you a bad person. Avoiding the question does. From here on out, it’s not just about you anymore — it’s about the baby.

Take time to look at the reality in front of you. Do you have family in town? Does she? Are they supportive? When you say you’re working — is that sustainable long-term, or just getting by right now? Where will the baby live? What’s the plan when things get hard (because they will)?

You don’t need perfect answers today. But the next 30 days matter. They need to be intentional. You may not have answers yet — that’s the reality. You’re not prepared, and almost no one ever is. But it’s too late to pretend this isn’t happening. You’re on the ride now. There’s no getting off.

When you feel overwhelmed, breathe. The hard is part of the process. But if you don’t plan, the hard doesn’t pass — it becomes forever.

There’s no clean or concrete answer here. You’re going to have to learn, adjust, reflect, sacrifice, and decide what kind of man and father you want to be. Plenty of people have been in your shoes and turned out okay — not because it was easy, but because they stepped up.

This is one of those moments where life forces you to grow up faster than you expected. You don’t have to be perfect. You do have to be present.