Answering for my brother:
Yes he did, with both of them.
Male
He’s always liked kids of any age. Babies, toddlers… heck, he even likes teenagers when they’re cranky 
SiL was pretty freaked out the first time because her connection wasn’t as total, instant, exploding as her husband’s. But the second time she already knew it probably wouldn’t be, so no problem.
Male. I didn’t like babies much before, although I do now.
I didn’t instantly bond - it took about eighteen hours with my son. (Story here, if you care).
With my daughter, it took longer. IIRC, I didn’t go completely ga-ga until a few months after she arrived. My son and wife went off to some all day event that I don’t recall, and I spent the whole day with her, going for walks and doing errands and things. By dinner time, I was hopelessly head over heels. It is hard to imagine so much charm crammed into so small a package.
But that was it for ol’ Shodan - my wife used to ask her “Where do you have Daddy wrapped?” and she would hold up her little finger with a self-satisfied smile. i can still tell when she wants something - she calls us up on the phone and says to my wife, “Hi, Mommy - can I speak to Daddy please?”
Regards,
Shodan
No, I didn’t. I had an emergency c-section after 18 hours trying to induce, was awake during the delivery, but was out of my head with tiredness and drugs when they put him in my arms. The first day is very fuzzy in my memory. I believe I thought, “Huh. He looks okay. I might break him accidentally. Where’s a nurse?”.
I was walking him the next day, and I realised I would do anything for him.
Didn’t like kids much. I like them better now, but mostly I like my own. He just turned one.
My husband had instant bonding.
I’m a guy, I was in my mid thirties when my sone was born.
I generally DON’T have a connection with babies or small children.
I was worried about this, however when my son was born premature and ended up in the NICU and I realized how badly things could go it hit me like a ton of bricks that I needed this little person to make it.
Instant connection.
He did make it, and I have never looked back.
I guess I don’t know. What a stupid answer. I think I’m like Marienee–I was very attached to them during pregancy, and when they came out it was “aha, you’re here now.” I know when I lost my first pregnancy my main feeling was loneliness; I’d lost my company.
My older daughter was a horrible labor and eventual c-section, and when they finally got her out, I was too exhausted to hold her and she was in some trouble. I didn’t really get to see her until the next morning, and she was hooked up to a bunch of things (at over 10 lbs, she was probably the biggest baby they’d ever had in the NICU), so we just lay there in the same room and I looked at her. I couldn’t get up yet either. Then when we could be together, at night I had to ask them to take her to the nursery so I could sleep, because every 5 minutes she would choke a bit and I would freak out. Despite all that I certainly felt close to her–I can’t say there was any magical moment, it’s just that she was all-important all the way through.
My younger daughter was much easier, and they did a c-section and laid her on my chest before they were done sewing me up. So it was all a lot simpler, but pretty much the same feeling.
I love babies and never suffered from PPD or anything, so there weren’t a lot of awful lows. Just, “good, here you are.”
Two kids, bonded at birth both times. The moment #1 was born and placed on my stomach, she looked up. Our eyes locked, and my universe was shaken to the core.
Daughter #2 didn’t have that eye-locking moment because she was righteously pissed at being born. We still connected the second she was in my arms. She’s still got a fiercer temperament than her older sister.
Breastfeeding did not help with bonding. I was happy to be able to do so, but I will admit to resenting being the 24hr cow for the first six months. Particularly with kid #1, who was a lingering nurser who took 45 minutes to eat and ate every two hours.
Oh, and I’m obviously female, and I have loved babies as long as I can remember. I’m afraid I like babies more than I like kids, even though I like kids.
Male, father to six-month-old daughter, and not really a baby person in general.
Although I got to hold her almost immediately upon birth and there was a certain amount of instant bonding, I think the bond really set properly when we brought her home. Suddenly there was a beautiful, helpless baby and we had to take care of her. And she would just look at us, and we would melt.
I am of course hopelessly smitten now, and will jabber on about my lovely daughter at all opportunities.
Female, like babies, and instant connection. In fact, it definitely started long before she was born. She was the most important person in my world before she was even a person in the world. My friend says I’m a freak 
After she was born she had to go to the NICU for a little while but they brought her back to me a few hours after her birth and popped her on the bed beside me, and the two of us just lay there looking into each others eyes… it was the most amazing and wonderful time.
Instant. I felt the most incredible rush of love, and joy, and also felt the certainty that my life was not my own any more and that my heart was in those baby hands.
Two kids, same feeling.
Oh, yeah. We still spend an appalling amount of time every day adoring him. And squealing, “Oooh! Look! Did you see that? He’s so cute!”
Funny I find this thread today. Thirteen years ago at 10:30 at night my water broke.
It took me a long time to bond with one of my kids when he was an infant. He was always well cared for, but it was a stressful time overall. I had to drive myself to the hospital when my water broke because my then-husband had chosen to get high that night. The night nurses claimed I wasn’t in pain because the ‘machine didn’t say so’. He wouldn’t latch on to feed, so I felt like I failed, and I had to go back to work at five weeks because my job had no maternity leave.
I remember the exact moment I knew I couldn’t live without him though. Up until that point in my life, everyone I loved was family, or I had grown to love them. There was a point I was able to say, “Yes, I care about this person very much, and would help them do/through almost anything.” We were at a friend’s 25th anniversary party, and I was putting him to sleep, rocking him back and forth. A song started to play, and I sang along while rocking him, and when I got to these lines, “Take my hand, take my whole life too…” I started tearing because I knew I would help him do anything, or through anything.
So early happy birthday, stinky!
I asked my hubby the question and will post his answers first.
My husband was 40 when we had our son. Before that he had never been a “baby person”, and can’t even remember holding a baby. He says he felt an instant connection. He was also the one who cared for our son for about the first few weeks, so I know they really bonded. When the baby was about a month old and smiled for the first time, my hubby cried like a baby! I saw it all happen and remember him saying, “It just melts my heart!” He probably didn’t want me to share that part, but I find it very touching.
Me, I was almost 39 when I had my first and only. I was very bonded through the whole pregnancy. I rubbed my huge belly and talked to the baby constantly. But once he was born it took me a week or two. But as I mentioned in another post, I was very sick toward the end. I was in and out of the hospital for about 10 days before I had my son, and was induced on about 6 of those trips. The stuff they tried never worked. My blood pressure and pre-eclampsiawas getting out of control, so I ended up having an emergency C-section, and then had congestive heart failure a few days after Orion’s birth. He got sent home with an aunt and uncle when he was a few days old, and I was hauled into the ER, and then up to the ICU. They thought I was having a stroke. My BP was in the 200s/150 or something crazy like that. Anyway, I survived, and once I got to go home and rest up the baby and I bonded just fine. But it wasn’t the instant love I hear about from a lot of women. I am sure the trauma of all I went through had a very big part in that not happening.
And yes I love babies, and they love me. I have had a hand in raising half a dozen infants from birth or just a few months old, being a nanny for 12 years. I am one of those goofy people who make faces at your kids in restaurants to get them to smile, when you are trying to get them to sit still and eat. Sorry…just can’t help myself. 
I firmly believe it’s like falling in love in the more traditional sense - for some people, it’s a bolt out of the blue, for others you spend lots of time together and share emotional experiences, and you forge a bond.
I wish someone had told me that before I had my first! I was expecting that magical bonding experience in the birthing room, and it was much more, “Oh hi, strange little person, who the hell are you?” After that, I had some medical issues that made life hard for the first six weeks or so, and nursing was a nightmare at first. The two strong emotions I had during that time were feeling totally responsible, which luckily fueled my good actions, and anger/resentment/hatred (yes, even that at times). But as I did The Right Thing and took care of her needs, I did fall in love with her, totally and irretrievably.
The second one benefitted from my strong relationship with her older sister. I feel like when she was handed to me, my experience and feelings from the first time around made me kind of project my future love onto her right away. I must say that being relatively healthy and having nursing go OK probably helped a lot too.
All in all, I think natural birth and nursing are wonderful, but I don’t think they necessarily create bonding. On the other hand, I think it’s hard to bond when you’re in a lot of pain, no matter what else is going on.
yes, male, yes. six year old fraternal twin boys.
I remember holding my first son (by two minutes) and the single most powerful emotion washed over me. the only thing I can describe it as was the power of the movement of a large slow body of water. It was as if everything that happened from now on, would be different…just because this little hand was wrapped around the smallest of my fingers.
I don’t know if this will fade with time, but I can hear a crying baby across a crowded walmart and tell if it’s tired, hungry, or dirty.
Most females tend to have a very tangible connection with their child at birth. Then the doctor lops it off and puts it in a jar.
Sorry for the hijack, but my son’s name is also Orion. How do you pronounce it and how did you come about the name? I have come about the name through family and have always thought it was a lovely, somewhat traditional name, but unique as well.
Male, 2-year-old son.
I was never really a ‘baby person’, but yes, I felt a pretty immediate connection with him when he was born.
Yes, I did have an instant connection, but it had started during pregnancy.
There’s nothing wrong with not feeling instantly bonded with the child, though. For lots of reasons (mostly not bad), it can take a while. Unintentionally Blank has a very good metaphor explaining that.
Excellent. 
Father here. I was in love with her from the first instant.
It grows and changes over time, but it was always there. But there’s nothing unusual about it kicking in a bit later.
This is exactly what I said to my daughter when she was handed to me! It was just as if we had been waiting for a long-expected family member to come home. Complete and utter feeling of “rightness” about having her in my arms at last.
I’m female, have always loved babies, and had the same instant feeling towards my son…though I think I said, “Hello there, James, it’s about time” because he was oh, ten days late!
Both births were sort of hard, in that I don’t labor well, and the pitocycin they gave made for a painful labor, and they weren’t free with the painkillers! But the minute it was over I was totally focused on the babies, and only slightly on finally getting some food! And I nursed both of them for over a year, if that is of any interest.