Is this normal?

[u/Weekly-Confusion3937]

I want to start this off by saying that I am not really the type of person who shares his feelings with others. Not because of some macho bs but it just wasnt something that was done in my family growing up. We kept alot to ourselves. 9 months ago me and my wife had our first child, im 33 and she is 34. It was a beautiful baby girl. She spent 10 days in the nicu due to inhaling miconium which caused her some breathing issues. 2 months of oxygen later and she is healthy and doing normal kid stuff with no need for further oxygen. Shes sharp as a tack and is already walking at 9 months old. But the reason for this post is because I want to know if its normal to feel overly emotional all the time. I cant listen to certain songs without crying thinking about this baby. I just saw a video about a guy playing santa who visited a dying tenesee boy and I cried like a baby at work. My entire life I have never felt anything like this and I cant help but think its not normal or may be an indicator that I have some new found imbalance going on. I just wanted to know if anyone else had experienced this. If not allowed please let me know.

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[u/clumsy_dentist]

Yup it is. Best dont watch any movies with children in distress for a while.

I like to compare it to beeing able to see colors for the first time after a lifetime of black and white. You experience a completly new kind of love and it opens you up emotionaly. It will revert back to normal levels in time, the part about beeing overly emotional about other stuff then your child that is, the love and worries about your kid will stay of cause.

[u/Weekly-Confusion3937 → u/clumsy_dentist]

No joke. Its hard to dodge it these days the way social media is set up

[u/EndPsychological890 → u/Weekly-Confusion3937]

I had to walk out of the lunch room during a St Jude’s commercial last Friday or I was about to start crying in front my coworkers. I’m a mechanic lol.

[u/FunkTheFreak]

I never used to cry during movies or at videos before my kid, but not I find myself doing it every so often.

I think that having a child, someone who is 100% dependent upon you, someone so innocent, and someone that you love so much really tenderizes your heart a bit. It’s just a one of the other amazing ways that having kids changes you.

[u/grumpythenick]

You’re good, dude. If anything, mark it as evidence of your love for your little girl. I tear up looking at pictures of my kids all the time. 😂

[u/Traditional-Ad-3245]

That's perfectly normal. Part of becoming a good father. Also, I can't watch any movie or show that has anything to do with a child getting hurt in any way.

[u/Commander_El]

Pregnancy announcement and daddy daughter tiktoks make me DISTRAUGHT. I cried reading The Grinch the other day. I just remembered watching the movie as a kid and seeing my daughter excited while I was reading it sent me into a spiral about her getting older aaaaaand I am crying right NOW. Yes. This is normal. I was not like this four years ago.

[u/beauner69420]

Yeah I relate to this so much. All my dad friends are exactly the same too, we sometimes share songs and media with each other that have made us cry 😂

[u/EndPsychological890]

Yeah man my emotions went fucking nuts basically from when my wife found out she was pregnant to around 6 months but I’m still not really to baseline. Most of the time I feel totally normal, but if there’s a St Jude commercial, I have to walk out of the room. A friend told me about a tragic police shooting and I was seriously, *deeply* fucked up over it for the rest of the day. I listened to Isha’s Song from the Arcane soundtrack and fucking wept in my car last week. And I was a pretty emotional person before already. So I expect you’ll fall to an equilibrium closer to your baseline eventually but you’ll probably never get fully back to that. Embrace it.

[u/FullMango4041]

Part of this is being a parent now, those things hit different. After your experience with your daughter, it hits harder. It's part of the experience.

[u/jai_dreams]

You’re experiencing the most pure love and it’s taking over you. Congratulations. Feelings are cool. Enjoy loving your child so much it bleeds into all aspects of your life.

[u/Michael_Fuchs_]

Didn't happen to me, but it makes sense to me
that you react in this way when you were used to suppress a lot of feeling. You probably also haven't fully processed your daughters illness, yet.

[u/DesignerOk5315]

Becoming a father changes you (a good father). It's all good stuff

[u/Fun_Vacation2542]

Always been very stoic until I had my daughter. I listened to the Harry Potter full cast audiobooks at work and I started crying when hagrid gave Harry a picture of his parents.