56 •
The Lion King
• April - June 2017
FEATURE
DADDY DUTY
Ola-Oluwa Osidele takes us on the journey to fatherhood as he
recounts his excitement about becoming a Dad for the first time
I
might be one of the few people in
the world who is not crazy about
babies. I mean they cry a lot, are
extremely messy and they demand
constant attention. They can be
cute and all that but I have always
had little patience for their antics. So
imagine my anxiety when my wife
told me she was pregnant!! For weeks
I was in denial until we went to the
hospital, did a blood test and it came
back positive. That’s when it became
real and all kinds of thoughts started
crossing my mind. Is it a boy or a girl?
What kind of father will I be? How
much is this whole thing going to cost?
Will I still have a life? It felt like the
walls of my life were closing in on me.
Nothing in life could have prepared
me for this moment, not even having
2 dogs (who are a handful).
I guess some would say I’m a selfish
person but it’s more complicated
than that. I have this individualistic
streak and I like my personal space
so needless to say, I was very worried
about how my lifestyle was about
to change. I started to talk a lot to
all my friends who are dads just to
get some pointers on what I should
expect and basically I kept getting
the same answer which was, “your life
as you know it is about to change”,
“children change everything”, “get
ready to become irrelevant in your
home”. I chose to be optimistic about
it because that’s who I am. My wife
and I found out the sex of our baby as
soon as we could and that helped me
focus and visualise what our lives were
about to become. The ultrasound was
cool and at first we had the regular
scan then we did the 3D scan which
was supposed to show more details
of the foetus but honestly I did not
understand what I was looking at.
Wifey was happy though so that’s
all that mattered. We recorded the
ultrasound and that’s how we chose
to break the news to our family and
friends. Everyone was so happy for
us; they even started calling me
“daddy yo”. My parents were also
super excited; their first grandson was
on the way. I guess I never really
thought about how it would affect
those around me. It’s amazing how
good news can just alter your view
on life.
Photo credit: 7Shades Photography
