'A Couple Months Of This Has Damn Near Killed Me': Dad Thanks SAHM's Everywhere

Dad who’s an MMA fighter and police officer says raising a preemie is harder

Dustin Johnson, a 10-year veteran cop and professional Muay Thai fighter has a message for husbands whose wives stay at home to care for their children: shut up about how hard your work day is.

“All my married with children dudes on here listen up,” Johnson wrote in a Facebook post this week. “After having to be a stay at home parent since February, I got a public service announcement. If you’ve ever given your wife grief about being home with the kid all day while you slaved away at work, you go straight home and apologize.”

The post has been shared over 80,000 times because somehow, some people still don’t realize how hard it is to stay home and care for children all day.

“Professional Muay Thai fighter and 10 year veteran cop …absolutely beat down by fatherhood of a preemie,” he added in the comments.

“I’ve been a cop for 10 years and I swear work seems like a vacation compared to how hard this has been,” Johnson tells Scary Mommy. “Ivy was born at 26 weeks and was 1.2 pounds. She was very growth restricted and my wife developed severe preeclampsia. It had to be an emergency c-section or I was going to lose both of them.” Ivy spent four months in the NICU before she was released home. Johnson says after her release it “just made more sense for me to stay home with her for us.” His wife, Darcy Johannsen, is a clinical scientist and is now back at work while he cares for Ivy.

“She keeps me sane. My wife is such a strong woman,” Johnson says of his wife. “I’m just happy that I unintentionally made so many women feel appreciated. It’s been pretty mind blowing how this spread.”

Every parent who has been tasked with staying home with children full time knows how hard it is, but it’s nice to get a pat on the back once and a while.

“I tip my hat to you ladies,” Johnson concluded in his post. “Only a couple months of this has damn near killed me.”