Bethany Ruth Urquhart

Ali woke me at 1 in the morning to say she was having abdominal pains, and that she'd called the hospital and they'd told her to come in. We got seen at about 2, and they said she was definitely in labour. Scary stuff! We timed contractions and whatnot until half six, when they said that the baby was ready to start coming out. An extremely harrowing hour followed, but at 7:38am today, Bethany Ruth Urquhart emerged. She weighed in at 7lb 11 1/2oz, which is reasonably hefty, but not huge. She made a bit of a meal of coming out, as she'd got her umbilical cord twisted round her wrist, but she seems fine now. Ali did extremely well, getting through her first labour in under 8 hours with no significant problems, no interventions and no pain relief beyond nitrous oxide. Still, quite the ordeal.

Ali, is now in hospital, and I've come home for a while for a rest. We're both pretty shattered, Ali especially, for obvious reasons. I've had one hour of sleep in the past 36 hours, but I'm holding up OK. I'll be ready to sleep tonight though!

Anyway. Here's a couple of photos of baby Bethany: