Article on Austin Hatch Becoming a Father
This made me smile today.
Great to hear about Austin!
We all have our challenges, yet it only takes a couple seconds of reflecting on that young man's life to realize.. my challeneges are pretty small.
Been going through therapy recently (our baby was incredibly difficult for the first 4 months and it nearly drove my wife and me to the brink) and at one point my therapist asked, "reflect on the hardest challenges you've had in your life and see what coping mechanisms you can draw from those."
Sat there for like 3 minutes and started chuckling. My "hardest challenges" seem so minor and ridiculous in comparison to those faced by millions of others every day. Didn't help me deal with the anxiety and depression I have/had, but it at least put some things in perspective for me.
Oh man, this reminds me of a friend of mine whose first baby had a very hard time sleeping for the first year. I worked with the dad, and because he had to go to work, the mom had the lion's share of dealing with it. She'd drive around at night with the baby, trying to get her to go to sleep. He said in the darkest hours, she was so desperate, she had thoughts of driving into a wall. Sleep deprivation can do that. Today, their daughter is a junior at the University of Denver and a super happy kid. Those first months can be tough. Hang in there.
Yeah, our son's first 3.5 months he only contact slept. It was awful. My wife and I slept in separate rooms the entire time in 4-5 hour shifts. And then during the day he would only nap on us so we couldn't do anything or go out. Trying to work 8-9 hours on 4 hours of sleep for 3.5 months was terrible, made me very concerned about my job security (still am). I remember driving somewhere alone and just thinking, "what if that car in front of me just swerved into my lane?" Barely had a reaction to it at all.
He sleeps on his own now, both at night and for naps, but he still wakes up a few times overnight to eat and each wake up gives me flashbacks to when he wouldn't sleep, which raises my anxiety and blood pressure. I made a joke about it, but my therapist said it's not really that different from PTSD. We're in a better place overall, but still paranoid that whatever the hell was wrong those first 3 months portends to something more significant being wrong that we won't see until he's 2 or 3 years old.
Has definitely made me NOT want to have a 2nd child.
For the first three or so months, our son cried from 5 pm until 9 pm every night like clockwork. There was no soothing him. We'd strap him into the baby bjorn and walk down the alleys in our neighborhood, trying to avoid contact with people because we were afraid they'd think we were bad parents. We also had to switch off every 20 minutes -- neither one of us could do more than that. And then he didn't sleep great, waking up at 4:30 or 5 AM every morning after having awakened twice for feedings. He woke up early like that until he was 5 or 6 years old. Oy, it was hard. He'll be 23 in June and I still feel sleep deprived. But he's doing great! Our pediatrician at the time said he thought babies should be born at 1 year thus avoiding having to deal with all the development from 1 - 12 months.
Oof yeah that's rough. Our son went through the witching hour for a few days/weeks, but that wasn't what drove us to the edge. The complete lack of sleep and feeling like there was no way out was what crushed us. We never got that newborn sleep stage people talk about. When they're just so little and tired that all they want to do is sleep. Our son apparently didn't feel that need unless he was physically on us.
Fortunately our son will sleep until 8 or so in the morning if we let him, but it's those night wakings that just hit something in the back of my brain. He doesn't need to eat. He's a big kid. But we were so defeated early on, we just accept where he's at now because at least it's better than hell.
Our pediatrician at the time said he thought babies should be born at 1 year thus avoiding having to deal with all the development from 1 - 12 months.
I feel this in my bones.
April 27th, 2023 at 12:30 PM ^
Our boy had a an open wound develop on his backside that looked like a birthmark for several months. It was beneath the skin (hemangioma) so we couldnt see it but every time he did his business it was resting on that sore. 6 months later, several laser treatments and a catheter due to doctors wanting to try out everything and it was "no mas" on another kid. Lil fella was crying 24/7 and most the time we had no clue why.
We had a neighbor who lived 100 yards away with a brand new colic-y baby (them, not us). For four months, that poor child spent 4-6 hours wailing at the top of his lungs. He would wake us up, and we could only imagine how the parents got by. Within a year, they were divorced.
My neighbor would go on runs at night after putting his 3 girls down for bed. I ran across him one day and he said he got back from a run and heard screaming outside the house and thought to himself "o crap, one of the girls are up." Then he opened his front door, didn't hear any screaming, and immediately felt bad for me, who was in our living room holding our screaming son.
We're not getting divorced. But I could see how the stress could lead to that.
I talked to one dad who told me he went into the bathroom to get the bottle for his baby one night and looked in the mirror and saw how wretched he looked from all the sleep deprivation and started crying, like he didn't even recognize himself anymore. I actually laughed at that one because of the absurd truth of it.
Thanks for being open about your situation. It probably wasn't easy to be so open about it, especially to a bunch of degenerate rando Michigan fans. It helps that people share these things so people can see that its more common than expected.
My add: my first was the worst for the first week of her life. I swear she slept a total of 10 hours in the first 6-7 days. It was complete hell. I went to work and slept in the car on breaks. My wife threatened to kill herself if I wasn't back in time to help. Then on day 7, my daughter decided she was tired enough and it was time to sleep. She slept 6 hours straight that night and she was a good sleeper for the most part thereafter. Crazy how newborns act.
No one could possibly be prepared for the first one. I remember calling the hospital nursery in tears on the second night at like 3 AM because the baby was crying and we had no idea why and the nurse on the other end said, "Open the bottle of formula we gave you and give it to him, " and I was like, "No! We're breastfeeding," and she said, "Do it." So I did it, he sucked it down and then slept until morning. And then of course, I thought, I'm such a bad mother, I don't even know when my baby is hungry! It really is amazing that people have more than one.
Great to see how life is treating Austin now. Glad this story moved on to happier times.
Thanks for posting this.
It's a great story and definitely a reminder for us all to not take things for granted.
Let's not forget that his wife (former two-time volleyball All-American Abby Cole) was also a Wolverine!
She was an AMAZING Volleyball player for Michigan. Can't wait for them to have even more future Wolverines!!!
April 29th, 2023 at 12:04 AM ^
I went to high school with Abby's dad and met up with him at a Michigan/PSU volleyball match after the Michigan football game Abby's senior year. Michigan won an amazing 5 setter against a highly ranked penn state team. I brought my 2 middle school daughters to watch the football game and also the volleyball match as they both were playing club volleyball.
After the match we met up with Abby and also got to meet Austin. I can tell you that you would be hard pressed to meet nicer people on the planet. Abby's dad was always a super nice guy in high school so I'm not surprised. They deserve the best and it's fitting that Abby and Austin found each other. And man, their kids are gonna be very tall and athletic!!
Outstanding in every way!
This is a great story, but am I allowed to be a little disappointed that People Magazine failed to mention that Beilein honored the full-ride scholarship Austin earned before he was injured? Or that they never mentioned that Abby was also an athlete at Michigan?
I mean, People is all about the 'feel good' stories, and there isn't much more 'feel good' than a big-time basketball coach giving up a scholarship player because he stuck to a commitment made to a guy that can no longer play. That's a rather large part of Austin's story.
Time flies… seams like yesterday when he played here.
So happy for Austin… after all he’s been through, he deserves only the best.
Go Blue
Was he not also on the Michigan basketball plane crash in March 2017?
He was still part of the program then, but not on the team and he was not on the plane that slid off the runway.
April 28th, 2023 at 11:42 AM ^
Thank God he was not on the plane. Can't imagine he had to go through it a third time
5 years ago this June I boarded a flight to Florida with my wife to spend a week celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary. She is TERRIFIED of flying. Some tall guy walked in with his significant other and I was staring at him like “where the hell do I know this guy from”. Asked my wife, she had no clue.
Plane starts to taxi, my wife is death gripping my hand while taking deep breaths trying to calm herself when I suddenly recall who the tall guy is. I definitely waited until after we landed before I showed her the article about Austin Hatch just getting married (they were probably heading to their honeymoon) and what his unfortunate claim to fame was. (Cool story bro)
Great to see him doing well and starting a family!
That is a legitimate cool story bro
You people remember that 6'5" mom Abby is a former Varsity Volleyball athlete for UM? Is it too early to offer a scholarship to Hudson?
Can he play the 4?
April 27th, 2023 at 12:53 AM ^
We have TWill for that, but we could always use a backup
The whole Hatch family was at one of the basketball games this year and they were hanging out in the Champions Club. I said hello to Austin and Hudson and the little guy promptly threw up onto the front of his shirt. I assured them that I have this affect on many people.
Ran into him and his wife in our neighborhood in Grand Haven a couple weeks ago. Super nice couple. Meeting him warmed the cockles of my heart, as Harbaugh would say!
WOW!!!
Really a FEEL GOOD story!!!!!!!!!!
Great post! Love those feel good stories - and the Hatch family is a good one!
Two terrific people. He is due blessings in his life.
April 27th, 2023 at 11:30 AM ^
After what he has been through, I have zero doubt he will be an incredible father. God speed to him and his family!
April 27th, 2023 at 12:19 PM ^
Joking but not joking- watch out for Hudson Hatch class of 2040. Kid of 2 D1 athlete parents, probably will be 6'6"+ himself, and is gonna grow up loving Michigan. Would not surprise me at all if he was a scholarship athlete here one day