A little earlier than expected at just 30 weeks and 3lbs 2oz, but my wonderful wife yesterday gave birth to my son, George Matthew Hire.

She phoned the midwife in the morning because she was a little uncomfortable during the night.. My wife, being a nurse, played it down and thought she was just constipated or had trapped wind. They told her to come along to the hospital to get checked out to err on the side of caution.

We're glad she did because when she did she was told she was told that her waters had broken and she was 3cm dilated.

One frantic phone call to me and several new land speed records down the A3 later and I was there with about half an hour to spare before she pushed the little fella out.

Laura is fine and the boy is doing well. He'll be in NICU for some weeks yet, but the early signs are that he's ok.

I could really do with some sleep!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to you both .

Congratulations to you all; it's a head-spinning time in your life having a new baby, but I'm sure you'll cope with it all. My eldest spent some time in the NICU, as did my nephew, who was born at 30 weeks and who now towers over me!

Ali, that's great news. Many thanks for letting us know.

Hullo George!

Congratulations to you all! Fantastic and exciting

Congratulations, now's your chance to get that sleep!

Congrats!

Congratulations

Congratulations, well done on getting there

Inspiring news Ali, delighted your good lady and little one survived the unexpected and are in good hands

Congratulations

Nice one Ali! Best wishes to you all.

Congratulations to you both.

Did she manage to hold on until Princess Anne's?

Congrats

Congratulations.

Congratulations Alastair and wife!! I think I'll have a quick drink to that!!

Many congratulations - have they told you about the white cabbage yet? My son was born 6 weeks early and at 5.5 pounds - he just turned 14 and is 6 foot!

Congratulations and best wishes to you all, Ali.

Thank you all for your kind words of congratulations.

Laura is fine and George is doing well. He's been breathing on his own more or less from the get go and they're hopeful that tomorrow he'll be downgraded from an incubator to a cot.

He can breathe, suckle and swallow ok, he just needs to learn how to the three things independently.

I'm naturally a big advocate for the NHS as I have a wife, mother and sister who all do or did work as nurses. But I cannot begin to describe how incredible the staff at Queen Alexandra in Portsmouth have been.

It's not just the clinical care they give, but the manner in which they are able to keep a numpty like me informed to the point where I genuinely feel relaxed and confident that everything will be fine.

congratulations!!

Congrats to you both.

Can mum stay in with George, or is he likely to be in for a few weeks?

Human babies are amazing when you think of it - launched at just 75% through the production process and working well.

Sleep well yourself

She is still in hospital at the moment but she'll probably be discharged today.

Becasue she works here and knows a lot of the staff they'll probably give her the option of staying a night or two more if she wants to be near George (provided they aren't desperate for the bed, which they don't seem to be at the moment).

An update for anyone interested.

George has just come home today so things are about to get very real.

So now we are proper parents and there's apparently no cooling off period.

Congratulations! Really pleased for you and your family. Enjoy the roller coaster ride!

Congratulations as for sleep.. hahaha my youngest of two boys turned four today and I'm still waiting to catch up on the sleep

Ha. Reminds me of graffiti on a condom machine 'insert baby for refund'.

Glad you're all home as a family