[Cathryn Crawford]

That's true. I agree with all you've said! What I'm trying to say is that if a mother is important during the first few weeks, so is the father, and they should be treated as such.

[Tax-chick]

Moment of self-knowledge, here! I'm just pretty selfish about "my" babies, and want to insist that I'm the most important person in their lives, no matter what. There's resentment, too, in a way: If I'm the "essential" parent when four kids have diarrhea and three are throwing up and two have spots (and we only have two bathrooms), and the cat is sick, too; then darn it, I'm the essential parent when they're born, and they eat and snooze and hum and sweat, and spew all over me, and I do two loads of laundry between midnight and 3 a.m., and the Dad says, "I didn't hear the baby last night, did he sleep the whole time?" AAARGH!

It's just a Mom thing. Maybe it's just MY thing, although I hear lots of similar philosophy from other MoMYS (mothers of many young siblings), especially when the Dads travel.

You're right on the principle, I just can't see the specific point clearly through the irrational fog :-).