Minding Frankie

Diary of a First-Time Dad
Edwin McGreal

When you have a baby, so many things that were once straightforward suddenly become very complicated.
A wedding was always a chance to let the hair down, get a break and catch up with good people. But, with a baby, a wedding becomes a very different proposition. When myself and Aisling were invited to a good friend’s wedding, which took place last Wednesday, the discussions started in earnest.
The first question is whether to bring baby with you. We were both agreed on this – no! If the child is in bad form, it can be a long day for the parents, not to mention the other people at the wedding.
Frankie wouldn’t be at the wedding, so this brings with it the obvious question of who will mind her. Grandparents, aunts and uncles are usually more than willing to help out, but this was complicated by two factors: The wedding was on midweek, and it was in County Meath.
Most people were tied up during the week, and the distance meant it would have to be an overnight stay for Frankie with whoever was minding her.
There was only one way around it. Aisling would go to the wedding, and I would stay at home, minding Frankie.
Aisling was very worried about leaving. She had never been away from her daughter for more than a handful of hours. I insisted everything would be fine, and told her to go and enjoy herself.
Inside I was bricking it.
Plenty of times I’ve taken Frankie for a few hours while Aisling got other things done, but Aisling was leaving on a Wednesday morning at 9am and not back until the Thursday evening. In my head, there was far too much that could go wrong!
It’s Friday morning as I type, and both Frankie and I have lived to tell the tale.
Thanks to Aisling’s good work, Frankie is in a reasonable routine now in terms of feeds and naps. And most of the time, Frankie was compliant for me too. Except when it came to her lunchtime nap.
She was tired both times but stubbornly refused to go down. Persuasion, bribery and pleading all fell on deaf ears. A walk around the village after Plan A failed worked, and Frankie got half an hour of sleep.
She was wrecked that evening as a consequence of the fresh air and not sleeping as much during the day. She was down at 8pm and slept right through to 7.30am. I needed every bit of that sleep myself.
On Thursday, it was a drive in the car when Plan A failed again, but those naps aside, we had great fun. It was a treasure to spend so much time with my daughter. That said, I don’t think I’d be able to go full-time Daddy Day Care just yet.

In his fortnightly column, first-time-father Edwin McGreal  chart the ups and downs of the biggest wake-up call of his life: parenthood.