It was 6am in University College London Hospital, Ben was minutes off being a day old and we had just spent our first and only night in the hospital following his birth. I remember taking this picture to send to my husband so that he could wake up to what I was seeing. I had not slept at all the night before and had spent most of it with Ben in my arms feeding. He cried every time I had attempted to put him in his cot, so much so the nurse told me it was best to just hold him as it was the only thing that calmed him. I remember recognising all his little movements and twitches from when he was inside my tummy and being amazed at how it was continuing in such a familiar way now he was on the outside.
Looking at this picture reminds me of that wonderful feeling I was experiencing right at that very moment in time. This amazing little baby was mine, he was here at last, so perfect and so beautiful. We had survived our first night together. Ben had taken to breastfeeding really quickly and easily which I was so relieved about as I had desperately wanted to breastfeed him and worried a lot about it in the run up to his birth after reading some silly information on the internet which said the possibility of doing so could be affected by having had a caesarian section, thankfully that was not to be the case. I remember being excited about the thought of my husband coming back into see us soon and the prospect of taking our little baby home later that day to start our life in our own surroundings as a family together.
So there you have it, my very happy memory, one I will never ever forget and thankfully I have this photo to preserve it forever.
