The Nationals’ Blake Butera is a first-time manager. He’s also a first-time father.

Hours before the moment that would change Blake Butera and his wife Caroline Margolis’s lives, Margolis joked she had nothing to do.

She sat in the hospital bed, pregnant and induced. There had to be something to pass the time. Butera had a solution: He’d just received his contract to be the Nationals’ manager.

“I have a very busy mind, and [Blake] is like, well, I just got the contract,” Margolis said. “And I was like, perfect, send it over.”

The details of the contract are hazy now for Margolis, an employment litigation lawyer by trade. But Butera joked: “She understood the legal jargon way better than I did.”

Later on Oct. 30, the same day Butera signed his contract, Blair Butera was born. The moment changed their personal and professional lives.

“I think I’ll tell her that she was along for a wild adventure,” Margolis said. “But an amazing, life-changing adventure.”

Butera watched on ESPN as the news about his hiring broke about an hour before the delivery. He turned his phone off. When he turned it back on, he had around 500 congratulatory messages in pairs — the first about his job, typically followed by a second text hours later about Blair’s birth.

Eight months later, Butera has the Nationals playing well above external expectations. Entering June, the Nationals are 31-29 and in contention for the final wild-card spot in the National League.

All the while, Butera is balancing a second responsibility: being a father to a 7-month-old experiencing a life some adults would envy.

“I absolutely love that it has been her whole life,” Margolis said. “It’s crazy to think about, but it’s been her whole life. She doesn’t know any different.”

“My wife and I joke a lot. ... The hotels she’s stayed in, and the stadiums she’s been to already at 6 months, is pretty crazy. So we’ve definitely taken a lot of pictures and videos and stuff that hopefully she’ll be able to look back on when she’s older.”

For all of this to work, Butera needed his wife’s permission. Last season, Butera was the Tampa Bay Rays’ senior director of player development. The hours were long. The phone calls were constant. Yet it was the most Butera had been home in his baseball career. He wasn’t looking for a change.

Blair was due in late October. The hope was Butera could unwind for a few weeks ahead of Blair’s birth, then spend the offseason in their hometown, Raleigh, North Carolina.

But planning a pregnancy around a baseball schedule is like hitting a moving target. The schedule is unpredictable and, as the couple found out, much can change.

Washington president of baseball operations Paul Toboni contacted his counterpart in Tampa Bay, Erik Neander, about interviewing Butera for the Nationals’ managerial opening

“When Paul had reached out ... I was like, ‘oh no,’” Margolis said. “I thought we’d hit the timing of this out of the park.”

Butera wanted to ensure Margolis was OK with the potential change. She was, but she also assumed Butera faced long odds as one of many potential candidates. Then, after Butera’s first call with Toboni, Margolis remembers Butera telling her it went really well.

As the process progressed, Toboni knew the baby was due at any moment. He flew to Raleigh to meet with Butera instead of having him come to Washington.

“At the time, I just kept thinking to myself: Imagine if Caroline had the baby when I was talking with Blake in Washington, D.C., or somewhere else,” Toboni said. “That would have crushed me. Honestly, the idea is that, even if Blake weren’t to have been offered and accepted the job, that he walks away saying this organization does it the right way.”

The decision to come to Raleigh left Butera believing Toboni was someone he’d want to work for, if he got the offer. By October, he’d signed.

The schedule following Blair’s birth was hectic. Butera spent most of November hiring a coaching staff. That process, though, was familiar based on his experience in the minors doing the same. Things slowed down for the holidays.

In January, the family relocated to West Palm Beach, Florida, through spring training, a period Margolis believes fundamentally changed their parenting dynamic.

“He’s like much more aware and appreciative and understanding of everything that’s involved in not just taking care of Blair but then just adding on the travel,” Margolis said. “Just all of life that comes with having a baby.”

When Butera is home, Margolis said, he is on top of Blair’s schedule, finding ways to help where needed.

Butera usually leaves for the stadium around 11 a.m. for a night game. He admitted it’s difficult to depart, though Blair’s nap time is typically when he leaves so that makes it a bit easier.

Margolis has a reduced schedule at her firm that allows her to work remotely. In the mornings, she works. In the afternoons and evenings, she takes care of Blair. They also have an au pair, who assists them given their ever-changing schedule.

Caroline, Blair and the au pair travel to Washington for every home series. They’ve been to Chicago, Pittsburgh and Atlanta but typically return to Raleigh when the team goes on the road so Margolis’ parents can pitch in, too.

“The other thing would just be how much of a rock star my wife is, her mom is, being able to fly, take her on flights and pack up everything and change diapers in the airport and all this stuff, basically by herself,” Butera said. “Just so I can live out a dream of mine and continue to do what I do and help us, you know, try to help us win and create a culture here that we’re really proud of.”

On the Nationals’ last road trip to Atlanta, a flight attendant asked Margolis if it was her baby’s first flight. She laughed.

That weekend, the Nationals lost a heartbreaker to the Braves on Friday night. What happened after was a glimpse into how things have changed for Butera.

Butera takes losses home with him. He always has, dating to his minor league managerial days. His brain stews over the bullpen move he should’ve made or the baserunning mistake he could’ve prevented. Sometimes, it keeps him up at night.

Rarely, though, according to his wife, do those internal thoughts express themselves outwardly. That Friday presented one of those rare nights. Margolis could sense Butera’s disappointment.

The next morning, around 6 a.m., he woke up to Blair in the hotel staring at him. Suddenly, the loss didn’t matter as much.

“Hearing Blair waking up, going to get her in the morning, was a nice little reset,” Butera said. “She doesn’t care if we won or lost, so it makes me remember that it’s just important to spend time together.”