THE BABY DRUG.

I'll be honest, I've felt a little drugged these last couple weeks. Hannah, too. Oxytocin––the love hormone mothers put off during birth––must linger thickly on our son because every time I look at him or pick him up the contact buzz is––for lack of a more accurate word––euphoric.Or it could just be that I am a biologically, chemically different creature since the birth of Further. I'm so excited about fatherhood it's embarrassing. Every time he cries my heart flops around like a beached whale. I change his diapers with zest––and I've never had zest before. Just to be able to touch him, to feel his warm weight in my hands is an absolute thrill. Mush. I am mostly just mush these days.There is simply nothing like holding your own child. Scientists say that energy has mass, and when you hold a baby you can feel it. You can feel the weight of life, and it's heavy––even heavier knowing you put it there. But you yourself also feel lighter than you've ever felt, alive on an ancient drug Mother Nature created to bond parents to their young. And it's a wonderful feeling.Of course, people keep telling me the giddiness will wear off, and maybe that's true. But for now it is a truly special high, and I am cherishing every smitten minute of it.- Jesse.