Cheers, I was thinking about the Van Gogh and maybe a anal tour. I arrive early in the morning and leave fairly early in the evening so I'll probably go around taking photos most of the time. Any restaurants or cafes you'd recommend with a nice view?

I'll let you know when I plan a proper visit with the missus

Both times i took my wife in for our kids, the NHS staff made me feel like a spare part. barking orders at me the first time around, really talking down to me. like they were the worlds biggest spice girls fans.

second time her waters burst in my new car on the way in so i was not in the mood for BS when we rushed into the word. almost got removed for not taking any shit until a doctor turned up and removed one of the midwifes that seemed to be the head bitch.

after that i got talking to a load of the new fathers i got to know, as you do when you have kids, and they'd all see the same treatment from the female midwifes. FUCKING SLAGS.

anyway super chuffed for you man. hope you got all the clubbing done you wanted to, enough to fill the next few years.

Fixed.

Also watch out for crime from the usual suspects (trying not to sound like a racist) but someone I was with got his phone plucked from his hand by some lovely chap on a bike last year.

Sounds shitty man. My last kid was born through emergency c-section in October last year. The hospital staff guided me through the whole process with lots of care and attention to my (mental) well being. I was relatively relaxed but they wanted to make sure I wasn't detached from reality or something because everything happened really, really quickly.

Seen Amsterdam, thinks it's representative of the whole of the Netherlands.

here come the rurals

@ Gramps, what? I suspect this is a cultural difference, not getting married and having kids is very normal here. See Eraser's post for the rationale.
@ Doombrain, MKJ is correct but i'm intruiged, what do you mean?
@ Memph, not sure if that's a genuine question and if this is an answer to it... but gender wise he can do whatever he wants, if he turns out to be a flaming queer later on that's totally fine by me of course - i'll be fucking proud of him no matter what
@ rest thanks again, jesus this is quite the experience. All i can say at this stage is that all the cliches are true.
@ Mazda, shit son, would have enjoyed meeting you but it'll have to be another time. I suggest you check out some museums during your stay, especially the Stedelijk and/or Foam - pretty sure you'll enjoy those. The Van Gogh is also good, i've always felt i didn't truly understand his work until i saw it for reals. If you plan to see more than just a few places i advise you rent bikes, it's the proper way to see Amsterdam. But public transportation in the city and from the airport is also excellent. For quality beers go for local breweries such as http://oedipus.com/, you can safely skip most of the tourist shit in the centre. Hope you enjoy your stay and if you have any questions let me know

Committed enough for kids but not marriage.

Sounds like a solid foundation to begin raising a child.

Congrats...