DAY 1 - 23 October:

Michelle: Our daughter had woken up in the middle of the night and I had been lying next to her trying to lull her back to sleep. As I lay there, I felt a bubble in my belly and thought: ‘That didn’t feel right’. And as I stood up my water broke. I was wheeled into theatre for a C-section just after 5am. I was nervous and excited to meet my baby boy.

Rachel had been rushed to NICU after she was born, and since I struggled with preterm labour and had been on bedrest in hospital for the three weeks leading up to Conor's birth, I had anticipated the same result. But then there he was, born at 5:56am and screaming his little lungs out. I will never forget that moment when the anaesthetist lifted my head up so I could watch the doctors lift him out of my belly. He was beautiful, healthy, and got a perfect Apgar score. I was already in love.

I remember feeling pretty shocked that I actually got to do skin to skin with him while I was being stitched up. I kept on looking around to see if they were going to take him from me, but the paediatrician assured me that he was ok and doing well. It was such a magical bonding experience. And perhaps the best part of all was that he didn’t need to go to NICU and we were wheeled down to the maternity ward together. Conor was the only one of our three children who didn’t need to go to NICU after birth, and I am so grateful for the gift he gave me of being able to experience what it was like to have my baby with me after birth. I must admit I felt a bit dazed by it all but relished the newborn cuddles and spent the day snuggling with him.

Michael: The water always breaks at night, right? Just when you are in your deepest sleep, you get the tap on the shoulder or hear the “Honey, wake up, we gotta go”. A brief grumble before it hits you, our child is coming! Yeeha, up in a flash, coffee gulped and off we go.

We enter the theatre and I feel a strange calmness, we’ve been here before, been-there-done-that kind of feeling. However, the feeling of holding your newborn child in your arms is something that cannot be described, it has to be felt. Everything went flawlessly.

That afternoon, I bring Rachel to meet her brother. She cannot wait to play with him, the anticipation of eight months of waiting, and here we are. What an amazing life we will have......

Happy 2nd birthday our sweet, sweet boy. You are loved and missed beyond measure xxx