My wife just gave birth to our first child. We’ve certainly had some nerdy moments throughout this:

1. Our music playlist. At the facility, we were allowed to bring in our own music players with playlists to help the mothers relax and get through labor. Of the small playlist we selected, some of the tunes were mixes from Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and Kingdom Hearts.

2. We had a doula, a woman that acts as an assistant during the pregnancy and birth. Towards the end of the labor, my wife does the expected “Please, make this stop” and “I can’t do this anymore” and my job was to keep encouraging her. “This will be a triumph…” I said. The doula chimes in, “Yes, it will!” I say, “We’re going to make a note here, this will be a huge success.” Again, the doula agrees, oblivious that I was working my way through Still Alive. My wife was looking at me the whole time, going “Smartass…”

3. Being the mother, she had priority in choosing the first name, Stephan, a tribute to her late sister, Stephanie. I got to choose the middle name. I wanted to go with Sabin, from Final Fantasy 6, but we’re in Louisiana, and everybody would think we were honoring LSU’s head coach Sabine. Almost went with Balthier, but I wasn’t that attached to FFXII. So we welcomed Stephan Auron Hand into the world.