This photograph is very significant to me. It’s the first image of me as a dad and was taken minutes after Helen was born. Note the surgical scrubs. It wasn’t the easiest birth and she came into this world in theatre.
While the moment is obviously very significant to me, on this occasion it’s the fact the image even exists that is most important. Over the past couple of years I’ve been troubled that we seemed to possess very few pictures of Helen in her earliest days. Apart from a handful of framed pictures, we had nothing. There weren’t even any images stored on memory cards, data sticks, phones or negatives (remember them?).
I knew other images existed and had searched all over the place for them on more than one occasion. I most recently went hunting for this particular shot when I wanted to use it with this blog post the other week. There were other missing images I wanted to get my hands on, including the first ever picture of mum and baby. We had a great record of her younger sister’s first days, but zero for our eldest child and I was very puzzled by this.
Until, that is, I hired a skip and went on a mission to de-clutter the house. While clearing out the garage I found loads of pictures in two boxes that had been put to one side several years ago and ignored ever since. Among them was the image above, plus the first mum and baby shot, baby scan pictures etc. It was a real treasure trove.
We moved house twice in quick succession after Helen was born and soon afterwards Elizabeth came along. It was a manic time and all manner of items were misplaced. I feel dreadful that such significant images were among the lost items. I apologise if using this mage seems self-indulgent but I am so, so happy to be reunited with it and the other pictures in our rediscovered collection and want to tell the world.
I’m linking this to the #MySundayPhoto linky that’s hosted by the Onedad3girls blog. It’s well worth a visit so please do click on the link below.
31 thoughts on “The day I became a dad”
What a relief! I would be devastated to lose photos of my babies. (In fact my second film of pics of my eldest got lost at Boots and I appealed in the local paper – it was found, thank goodness!) I still keep my photos in physical albums and have just started on number 100 since my eldest was born 14 and a bit years ago.
I think I need to get as organised as you. At least that way photos wouldn’t go missing. Good work retrieving that camera film. How lucky the film turned up.
I think I could happily loose those first photos with me and babies all looking blotchy, but not the ones from a few hours on, those first days are precious. glad you have them safe.
Funny you should say that as Mrs Adams looks on incredibly good form for a woman that’s just had a baby after 33 hours of labour. Anyway, those first days are precious and I’m delighted to have those pictures back.
I totally get the whole relief in finding lost treasures. I’m so glad they were still in good nick and no little critters had moved in and ruined them for you. How lucky we are to have the modern medicine we do, and your Helen is extra lucky too.
VERY lucky. Some boxes I cleared out had been attacked by mice. Thankfully these ones were untouched.
What a great photo, we seem to have very few of our eldest too. These days everything is stored on phones and dropbox etc but day then we didn’t have those things. Glad you have them now
Thank you for linking up
Yeah, our present photographic storage system needs quite a bit of work as the pics are stored everywhere! Thanks again for hosting #MySundayPhoto.
Photos are so precious, they mean to much, and can bring back so many memories. Glad you found it.
We have only one very blurry photo of me with N as we came out of theatre (the OH didn’t come in with me – he’s squeamish) because the OH is rubbish at taking photos. So no first photos at all. There is one of the OH with N early on because I then got out my photo to take photos. I’m sad that there isn’t one of me with N in hospital though.
Ah, yes, that is a shame. Makes me feel a little guilty actually.
It’s a brilliant photo and so glad you found this. It has to be one of the most key photo moment ever. It’s not being indulgent, it’s completely precious x
Yes, that is how I fell about the image. It’s having a record of that moment that means so much. It is one I’ve wanted to get my hands on again for absolutely ages (and the one of Mrs Adams immediately after the birth too. I’m not sharing that one though. She’s got cannulas in her arm etc and a bit too much upper body on show. Don’t think she’d appreciate it!)
Glad you found this special photo 🙂
I would be devastated if I lost any photos of my babies too.
My sister in law had her bag stolen some years ago and in it were both the first scans of her kiddies, just awful. #MySundayPhoto
What a horrible thing for your sister in law to experience. That would be so upsetting.
Thank goodness you found them. These photos are pm precious, aren’t they?
Having a record of that moments means such a lot to me. I imagine it will mean a lot to Helen also in years to come.
Such a truly precious picture of a very important day. I’m so glad you’ve found your precious pictures as they really are irreplaceable. Xx
Completely irreplaceable! I’m over the moon to have found this pic again.
Don’t apologise, there’s nothing self-indulgent in wanting to celebrate what you thought was lost.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever see it again so I am very happy indeed to have this picture back (and this time scanned so I have a digital record too!).
Such a relief that you found these most precious photos….
Relief with a capital R Kim! They’ve now been scanned so they can’t go walk about again.
It’s not self indulgent at all. I would be devastated if we lost our photos of the kids when they were tiny. It must have been such a relief to find those boxes, I’m so glad you did x
Thanks Sara. The images are simply irreplaceable so I was delighted to comer across them again.
Glad you were able to retrieve this precious photo, John. I can’t bear the thought of losing photos like this – it’s one of the things that worries me most about having a primarily digital archive these days.
I know what you mean Tim. That said, if you have a digital archive you can at least back up in numerous places. I fear I wasn’t quite so tech-savvy when Helen was born.
So pleased you found it. I bet it brings back so many memories. Our first photo of the three of us is me flat out on the operating table and my husband (crying) holding Freya. It’s hard to look at in some ways because her arrival was also a bit fraught but I’m so pleased we have it.
I see why it’s hard to look at, but I bet you’d miss it if it were gone! Thanks for commenting Tara.
I adore coming across old photos like this, I have boxes of them!
Whatever you do, don’t move house and forget where you’ve put the boxes!
Do you know John we are the same with Jack, all off Joes and on my mac but Jack pre digital has a box of photos in the loft, I need to dig them all out, I too want to use some for my blog its such a shame I can somehow have them uploaded digitally now, in fact I am going to find out if there is way, there must be I just need to find the negatives x