Dear Steemians,

Today I'm going to share with you a personal story. The picture below is my, as of a couple of days ago, 4 month old baby, beautiful wife @jomaze and me. Happy nuclear family. Only my little spirit animal, our dog Zoe is missing in this family picture. This is how it LOOKs like to be a parent! ;)

When people ask what it is like to be a freshly baked parent I tell them three things.

It's like you just got another heart, but this one is now outside of you.

and

Right after birth, it felt like the entire universe was reconfigured. Literally.

Starting from the moment we left the building, I felt like being part of some Matrix Volume 4 movie set. We've often been in that street before birth, since we choose to do it with as few intervention as possible, at the house of the midwifes, instead in a clinic.

If you can do it this way, I definitely suggest you do it. It's worth the pain at the moment, but you will save many other pains (and probably money too) later on.

Once we left all of a sudden it was like some transtransformers charakter puked out tons of cars and scattered them all of the place. That kinda traffic in this neighborhood what really abnormal. I thought to myself. Oh nice, they all came to witness the birth of Frida Victoria.

We choose that name, because for me as half German, half British it's common to have more than one name. Frida is a great name for an half Mexican, half German girl. It's originally a old fashioned name derived from the German word for peace. Frieden. As a name would be Frieda, but since the famous Mexican artist (with a German father) Frieda Kahlo was easier to pronounce Frida, we now have our Peace Victory little bundle of pure love named that way.

Well... Look at her. (Picture above) Haha... It was pure coincidence that happened. But well... that's how it is to become a parent. Your kid will be what ever it chooses to be. You can just help and assist them along the way.

So here we are, enjoying the ride in the amusement park of parenthood.

Another third comparison to becoming a parent is, that it's like a drug and then like a drug addiction. Seriously, I straight away wanted more. Haha... My wife differs... Damn it was a real hardcore painful 5 hour surfing trip in stormy high waves waters. But totally worth it!

In the birth preparation classes the midwife actually compared birth with stepping into an ocean. Each contraction is a wave... Increasingly stronger. But you need to get into that water. First you step back and are afraid of what hits you. But once you are in it, there is no way back. You will be given birth to that baby, no way back.

But why I actually compared it with an drug, is that besides of the hormonal roller coaster, you just get bombarded with all sorts of munchies goody items and advice, as if you are some kinda moron. Read this, take that, do this, oh this you should try, and so on. The industry around it is crazy. Try to keep away from it as good as you can, it spoils, no it robes you from the pure experience. Just take it all in, and do what you feel is right.

So here we are. 4 month in. It feels like that's the real cycle. 13 month from conception and you'll be "normal" again. But changed for good. It's a complete new life situation. With ups and downs, but for sure worth the ride.

Here a closing picture from here 4th month birthday.

Feel free to share your first months of being coming a parent. Here is one of a friend told me the other day.

With your first child it like, "OH NO! TO THE HOSPITAL, THE BABY SWOLLED DIRT. PANIC!".... with the second; "Oh, let's give him a good clean and feed him well." and after the third; "Mhh... do you think it needs to eat more?" :)

(2nd and 3rd picture sources. Geburtshaus Kreuzberg and Google StreetView)