Ryan Reynolds: 'A Human Being Will Exit Your Wife, So She’s Done Enough'
Ryan Reynolds advice for new dads is hilariously spot on.
When we talk about labor and delivery, our conversations usually revolve around the babies and what’s best for them, but actor Ryan Reynolds just reminded us in the most hilarious way that moms deserve some damn care and concern too.
During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Ryan Reynolds gave the host his best advice for new fatherhood. Seth Meyers is expecting his first child with wife Alexi Ashe, so he asked Reynolds what he should focus on to be helpful post-birth, and the actor told him the most important thing is to just to “do the dirty work.” He said:
“Just do the dirty work, man. You gotta do the diapers, you gotta do the middle of the night thing. I mean, your wife — a human being will exit your wife, so she’s done enough. Just change the diapers and do all that stuff.”
A human being will exit your wife, so she’s done enough. Damn if that isn’t the truth. In fact, I kind of want it printed on a t-shirt so all moms can wear it post-birth when they’re shuffling around in their giant mesh panties and trying to recover between feedings.
As much as we love to regale each other with the sweeter and more entertaining parts of our birth stories, the fact of the matter is those first few days and weeks of post-birth recovery are fucking hard. You’re bleeding, you might have stitches or a c-section incision, you’re sore in places you didn’t even know you could be sore, you’re exhausted, and on top of that you’ve got a tiny little alarm clock who doesn’t know any better than to make demands on you at all hours of the day and night.
We like to pretend it’s easy to just bounce back from birth and move on to caring for our babies, but there’s a reason doctors tell us to take it easy for a few weeks. Birthing a human takes a shocking toll on your body. It’s not just a minor, routine event like we pretend it is, and it’s honestly hilarious the way we sometimes try to play it off. “My vagina feels like it got in a car accident, but please, let me do the dishes.”
We’re reluctant to ask for help or seem like a martyr, but Reynolds’ advice is a hilarious reminder of a truth we often downplay: an actual living, breathing human just burst forth from our bodies like a pissed off alien. If that’s not an excuse to let someone else handle the dirty work, I don’t know what is.
