Him

I cannot begin to image what a woman goes through when she finds out she’s going to be a mother for the first time. They have to have a lot more to deal with than men do, I mean we’re just observers; women actually do the work and run all the risks. But with that said, I was floored when I found out I was going to be a father for the first time, so I had all I could handle.

I could not believe the mixture of emotions. Happiness, fear, excitement, worries, you name it, and I felt it.

Was I ready for this?

Was it a boy or a girl?

Was it healthy?

Was there more than one?

Was my wife going to be okay?

How much more was it going to add to our already stressed budget?

Would I do a good job raising it?

What other changes would we have to make?

We would need a bigger apartment and a crib and high chair and car seat and clothes and diapers and on and on.

I still vividly remember the first time she put my hand on her stomach when the baby was moving. It felt so funny, but it made everything hit home. This was for real.

My wife and her mom started talking about the baby being a girl, and although I little girls are special; I wanted the first one to be a boy. So I told them in that macho redneck way, “Nope, the first one’s gonna be a boy!” And it was.

A couple of weeks before he was born her doctor decided to induce labor. I took her to the hospital and sat beside her for what seemed like forever while this IV was supposed to make her go into labor. Nobody told my son. He was more than satisfied right where he was. After 8 or 10 hours, they let us go back home.

On Christmas morning, 1972, she woke me up and said she was having contractions and it was time to go. I thought, “Wow, I’m going to have a Christmas baby!” Nope. He still had ideas of his own. She was close enough to having him that they kept her at the hospital, but he took his time showing up. She was there from 6 am until 1 am the next morning before he was born. I sat with her almost the entire time except for an occasional bathroom break and quick drag on a cigarette. Then, at about 11 pm, I wimped out. I was hungry and tired. I knew she was too, but I had to do something. I told her I was going to go to the waiting room and drink a cup of coffee and would be right back. I fell asleep.

The next thing I remember, a nurse is shaking me, saying, “Mr. Presley would you like to come see your new baby boy?” I literally ran to the recovery room. Now I know people say that newborns can’t focus on anything, but when they brought him into the room in an incubator, he looked right at me. To this day I would swear he knew who I was.

I had no way of knowing at the time, just how big of a role he would have in my life.