Felix Howlett arrived at 9am this morning, weighing in at 7lb 9oz, following a very short labour of about 4 hours. Here he is later on this afternoon, taking a little nap on my belly.

Needless to say it's been an emotional rollercoaster of a day. At the start I was telling Karen to be a big brave soldier. Toward the point of delivery I was telling myself to be a big brave soldier as I tried to fight back floods of tears, Karen pushed the head out and my first born ventured in to the world.

Having the baby at home was definitely the right way to go. It's almost surreal how quick it was all over. We woke just after 5am and Karen was having contractions four minutes apart. By 6am the midwife was here and Karen was 2cm dilated. By 8am she was 5cm. By 9am he was born. It was all so quick I didn't have time to get the temperature of the birthing pool down to sub 36^oC and so it never got used.

At one point the living room was scattered with all sorts of medical kit and canisters of laughing gas. By 11am it was all cleared away, back to normal and the only evidence of it being anything other than a normal day was the little bundle of joy dozing in the corner.

It might be a bit quiet here for most of the week as I deal with it all. When I return I'll try my best not to turn this in to a Felix love-in photo-fest detailing his every movement. No doubt he'll be making a few appearances, but I'll try not to stray off topic too much.