The Dispatch
No XLVIII · Fatherhood · 7 min
The third-trimester prep list
What you actually need ready before the baby arrives, from a first-time dad who learnt most of it the hard way.
No XLVII · FATHERHOOD
What the birth is actually like (for the partner watching)
Honest notes on what the partner does, sees and feels in the birth room, from a dad who was there.
26 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XLVI · FATHERHOOD
The first six weeks with a newborn, by the hour
An honest, hour-by-hour look at the newborn fog from a dad who tracked it (because he had to).
26 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XLV · FATHERHOOD
How the relationship shifts after the baby
What changes between you and your partner once the baby arrives, and how to keep the relationship in the room.
26 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XLIV · FATHERHOOD
Parental leave in Australia, explained for dads
How Dad and Partner Pay, employer leave, and the newborn payments work in Australia, in plain English.
26 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XLIII · FATHERHOOD
Staying yourself as a new dad
How to keep your identity, friendships and inner life intact through the first year of fatherhood.
26 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XLII · FATHERHOOD
The first night home from hospital
The drive is forty minutes at thirty kilometres an hour. The door closes. You realise nobody is coming to check on you, and the small person in the bassinet is now, in some legal and biological sense, your problem.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XLI · FATHERHOOD
The second-month fog
Weeks six to ten are harder than the first six. The visitors stop. The adrenaline runs out. The sleep debt stops being a number you can count and starts being a thing your body does to you.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XL · FATHERHOOD
When she has postnatal depression
It doesn't always look like sadness. Sometimes it looks like rage at the dishwasher, a flatness behind the eyes during a feed, or the sentence "I shouldn't be a mother" said quietly at 2am. Your job is to recognise it, name it, and act.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXIX · FATHERHOOD
When you have postnatal depression
About one in ten new fathers develops postnatal depression. It rarely looks like sadness. It looks like anger, withdrawal, working too much, drinking more, fantasies of leaving. The shame loop keeps it hidden. Here's what to look for and what to do.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXVIII · FATHERHOOD
The witching-hour survival
Five to seven in the evening with a baby is the worst stretch of the day, and not because you're doing anything wrong. It's developmental, not parental. Here's why it happens, what works, and why the 5pm handover is a marriage move.
28 Apr 2026 · 6 min
No XXXVII · FATHERHOOD
Introducing solids without losing your mind
Around six months you go from milk-only to a war zone of pumpkin and avocado. Here is what the Australian guidelines actually say, why iron matters more than Instagram, and how to read the gag reflex without panicking.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXVI · FATHERHOOD
The six-month sleep regression
The well-named, badly-understood phenomenon. What is actually happening, why more solids does not fix it, and how couples actually decide which sleep approach to run.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXV · FATHERHOOD
The first real illness
RSV. Gastro. Croup. Eventually one of them lands. The dad register is not panicking and not dismissing. Here is the Australian triage path, the signs that matter, and the line for the ED.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXIV · FATHERHOOD
The first twelve months of marriage after baby
The marriage is hardest in months four to fifteen, not months one to three. Here is why the data shows a sharp drop in relationship satisfaction, and the specific failure modes that cause it.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXIII · FATHERHOOD
Balancing work and newborn, realistically
Going back after parental leave creates a partner-asymmetry that nobody warned you about. The 7am chaos, the 5pm chaos, and what actually works in dual-career households with a baby.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXII · FATHERHOOD
Baby number two, the different game
Two kids is not twice the work, it is a different problem. The first child regresses. The marriage cracks in new places. You cannot run a household solo when one parent goes down. What is easier, what is harder, and why nobody warned you about the no-honeymoon part.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXI · FATHERHOOD
Being the default parent as a dad
The social architecture of Australian parenting is not built for dads doing the primary share. The school-mum networks close at the gate. The playground at 11am is a quiet place. Here is how to find your people, hold your identity, and not lose your mind in the process.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXX · FATHERHOOD
The dad friend network
Fatherhood reshuffles your friend list whether you asked it to or not. The mates from before kids drift. The new dad-friends form in odd places. Here is why "we will catch up when the kids are older" is a lie, and how to build a small network of dads you actually like.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXIX · FATHERHOOD
The first birthday and what it marks
The first birthday is not really for the baby. It is the year you survived. The party is a marker, not a celebration. What you learnt, what the marriage learnt, what the photo of you exhausted at the cake is actually saying.
28 Apr 2026 · 6 min