Happy Half-Birthday!

Ari is 6 months old. Here's some things you may not know about the day he was born.

• It was a hot day in Melbourne. The Australian Open was on.
  
• I remember watching the view across the city from Frances Perry House, Carlton, while an anaesthetist injected a catether into my spine and two people held me still. A nice lady from the cord blood bank held my hand and squeezed it.
• Ari came into the world crying, while I sobbed with joy and said "it's a boy, we've got a boy" over and over and then moved onto "is he alright, is he alright?"
• The cast of thousands (so it seemed) in the operating theatre commented on a) the neat stitching job on my tummy and b) Ari's unusual name.
• He had awful bruises on his head from forceps, which eventually faded.
• He sneezed on me the first moment I saw him. The first thing I noticed was his gingery hair.
• It was so wonderful. I still get teary thinking about the sheer and utter joy of it all. Nothing in the world could ever top it.