Joe César by Theo

Well, what a contrast with Rosie's birth: whereas her entry into the world was a late-night, adrenaline filled surprise that happened in what seemed like the blink of an eye, her little brother Joe's entry proceeded calmly along planned lines and simply involved a lot of waiting.

Despite Kate's desire for a normal birth and despite a mountain of curry, pineapple, aubergine and a fair amount of certain activities thought to promote labour, Joe did not arrive by his due date. So Kate was promptly booked in for another cesarian. Arriving at Southmead at the appointed time (7am) the only thing we had to contend with this time was boredom - there were three scheduled operations that morning and Kate's was the third. So we settled down to a hefty dose of dystopian literature: Kate reading The Hunger Games and Brave New World for me (which I soon finished). Having hoped I'd be back to help Elena out with Rosie by lunch time, we were slightly miffed not to be called until past 12pm.

Dressed in scrubs we were guided politely into the operating theatre, feeling mildly like extras from Green Wing. The all female team were brilliant, and also very funny, maintaining a witty repartee throughout while also complimenting Kate on her choice of birth music - a folky mix of Rokia Traore, Kate Bush, Sufjan Stevens and the like (though not The Like). Kate couldn't see any of the proceedings, but I could (in the reflection of the light stand) so I saw the moment his hairy head came out followed by his crinkly, red 8.5lbs body. Magical.  

The team popped him almost straight onto Kate's chest and the sound of her heartbeat calmed him straight away, another magical moment. He promptly peed on my hand when the time came to take him off - starting as he means to go on I suppose. In the recovery room he started feeding straightaway, having not been away from his mum for more than five minutes - two other huge differences from his sister's early hours. She and Elena were promptly fetched from home to come and visit the new arrival.

He's called Joe César: Joe because we like the name, and have a several good friends of the same name; César - pronounced the Spanish way (Thesar) - in memory of our dear friend, sadly missed, César Jalon.