Keen Teeny Rastafeeny's Rapid Arrival

I had a phone call at 7.45 this morning. You know how you always fear the worst, especially when you’ve just woken up. Of course, the obvious passed me by in my half-asleep state. One look at the caller ID though and I knew instantly what had occurred.

‘Kat woke up at quarter to two with pains,’ said Peter. ‘And he was born at 3.15.’

‘3.15?’ I said, incredulous.

‘Yep. We didn’t even get time to set up the birthing pool.’

It seems the midwife didn’t get there in time either. So who delivered little Teeny Rastafeeny? Well, Peter of course! Luckily it was two pushes and he was out. Peter had planned to cut the cord, but the midwife arrived before it was necessary. Having done the important bit he had to leave her something to do.

I knocked on Uncle Jack’s door as soon as I got off the phone. ‘Your new nephew’s arrived,’ I told him.

‘Wha’?’

‘Teeny’s been born.’

‘Ay?’

‘Kat and Peter’s baby’s arrived.’

‘Uh? Really?’

‘Yes. Do you want to come with me to see him?’

He considered me blearily. ‘Um…’

‘Later?’

‘Yeah, later,’ he confirmed, yawning and snuggling back into the bed.

Pa and I arrived about quarter to nine to find Kat sitting serenely in the living room cuddling Teeny, her mum seated with a cup of tea and big brother Ben choosing his Christmas list from the John Lewis website (‘Sometimes you’ve just got to let things go,’ said Kat, who’s not keen on kids spending lots of time on computers). Peter was on tea making duty. Anyone would think we’d popped into a coffee morning, so calm was the atmosphere.

Pa took a few photos then left for work as Aunty Giovanna and LHG turned up. LHG took a brief look at his new cousin before toddling off to find something more interesting to do, like fiddling with the fridge magnets.

The conversation inevitably turned to who Teeny looks like. So far he seems to favour Ben with Peter’s forehead, Kat’s ears and smidge of the ‘Turnbull’ nose (ie, with a ridge down the bit in between his nostrils). If LHG is anything to go by, in six months’ time he’ll look completely different. The ‘Turnbull’ ridge and the cleft chin are the only recognisable features left. Giovanna reckons the current LHG ate the original one!

So, it’s welcome to the world to Teeny Rastafeeny (his parents don’t seem to have revealed his name to the world, [ie facebook] yet, so neither will I) on this cold and misty, autumn morning.

Teeny with his Aunty Giovanna and cousin LHG