Portland Trail Blazers backup big man Chris Kaman has a newfound respect for the act of childbirth after seeing his wife, Emelie, go through 32 hours of labor to give birth to their new son, Barrett Christopher Kaman.
"I have a lot more respect for women now than I used to, I'll say that," Kaman said, via Joe Freeman of The Oregonian.
Kaman missed the team's victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday to be with his wife at the hospital. Barrett was born at 12:27am on Saturday morning, and Chris returned to the team one day later with an entirely different set of priorities to contend with.
"Everything in my life changes now," he said. "You have to be more responsible in everything that you do. Decisions are going to need to be thought our a lot more than they had been."
As soon as Chris saw his baby boy for the first time, he was instantly overcome with emotion.
"It's interesting," he said. "I feel like it's a different kind of connection. I've seen my nephews grew up. I've helped kind of raise them a little bit. But it's completely different to have your own. The connection you have with the baby is unbelievable.
"Right when he came out I wanted to cry. But I was like, 'Man, don't be a wussy. Suck it up. Suck those tears back, boy.' They didn't (come). It was close. I don't cry about much."
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