Well, what a night (and a day). This time yesterday bump was just that, a bump; and we’d got quite happily used to him or her being around. Anyhow, in the middle of the night she decided it might be time to get outa there, and so this morning, here she is, suddenly a little person, and Lyra she is now. Lyra Sylvie Golemboski-Byrne. The nurses are fed up of writing it already.

My beautiful wife did amazingly well – giving birth turns out to be bloody hard work, but Claire managed it in time for breakfast, and was incredibly brave. They’re both doing well, and I’ve come home to tend the hens, horses and dog, before returning to them tomorrow. As long as the right doctor signs the right bits of paper, they’ll be coming home.
Suddenly all the hard work of the last 4 months doesn’t seem so hard, and it was worth every second to give this wee one a home to come back to. Here she is again, funny how all babies look exactly the same, except when they are yours..