24 Hours

Meet Scott Edward at less than 24 hours old. He's a handsome little fellow who we all agree has his father's nose and his mum's toes. These may not be things he thanks us for as a start in life but at least we will be able to pick him out in a crowd.

How can I describe our feelings at the moment? Exhaustion springs to mind. Mum had about one hour's sleep on the first night, I found it difficult to nod off and so had a stiff Scotch then fell into a deep slumber and overslept. So we were both not at our best for baby.

The problem of the day was that he had difficulty in feeding - he fed at 4.30am and then slept a good deal and had the most enormous ejection of meconium which I had to deal with and is a 'first baby thing' to remember, believe me. But baby decided that feeding was passe and so slept on the boob until he finally decided to latch on and feed at 5pm and then did not feed again until 10pm. By that time he was way crotchety and despite the best advice from the mid-wives he had studiously avoided slurping.

The trick, we have found so far, is to make sure he is wide awake and then to get 'skin to skin'. There is a lot of 'faddy' research on this but I cannot recommend it enough as a) it works and b) it's such a feeling for mum and dad alike - I am getting choked up just writing that as it is so special to have your new baby actually sleeping naked (bar a nappy) on your own bare skin. You see, the problem was not wanting his mum's boob - he was using it as a comfort - but to stimulate the action of feeding. By cooling him down, upping the lights and tickling his feet, he really got stuck in and his last feed before I left was a big one and he was much, much more settled. Mum was hoping to get at least a little sleep as she was far more tired than me. Having said that, I got to sleep just after 1am and was up again at 6.00am and I can tell you I am shattered with blood red eyes.

But that's a minor issue. The actual joy of being around this little bundle of delight is amazing. And we are just so chuffed at not only how many people have contacted us from far and wide but how touching all the thoughts are. It seems that not only we were trying hard to have this baby all this while, many of our friends and family were praying equally hard. That's a great start in life for the boy - no pressure then.

Talking of that - I had this from my brother, who has just gone potty over his new nephew. "I had a dream last night. There was Scott stood on top of Mt. Everest wearing his Emeritus cap and gown as Professor of Nuclear Physics from Cambridge University holding the Ashes urn in his hand. You'll have to have a harsh word with him as I don't want under-achievers in the family." No pressure at all then.

We are hoping that everyone can return home today. The doctors are happy with mum's progress and baby is looking fine, passing his early hearing test with flying colours and he looks good. So I lectured the dogs again last night and got them to sniff the baby's dirty clothes I brought home. Both seemed very excited but I have seen that sort of activity at Christmas time when they think each gift is for them and so they unwrap them. We shall see how jealous they get later - plus no jumping on mum's tummy.

I got home late last night and the neighbours (I am not sure which ones, but I have my suspicions, Lindsay) have decorated the archway outside our porch. It brought a huge smile to my exhausted face - and a second one in the dead of night when I awoke with a start and realised I had not put the recycling boxes out as it was bin day today. How stupid was that as I was up long before they arrived anyway - so be prepared for addled brains as part of the fatigue.

One of my sisters has indicated she would like to travel up from Wales for a short visit on Sunday and lots of friends and relatives will descend on us over the weekend. It augments my view that lots of people are rooting for this boy.

No pressure at all, really.