My son was born in September 2016. At home. In our bedroom.

I thought I understood love before. I didn't.

As my wife labored for twelve hours, I breathed with her. Suffered with her. When she wasn't looking, I cried so hard I felt destroyed. When she was looking, I found strength I never knew existed.

Then he arrived.

I felt everything I've ever felt in my entire life — all at once. Fear. Joy. Anxiety. Relief. A bond so strong it remade me.

Friends told me having a child would teach me "true love." They were right. But it's not just love.

It's everything.

Raw. Unfiltered. Total.

https://vryfokkenou.com/2016/09/22/my-emotional-birth/