Tom

Your mum and I are here to meet you my darling son. We are so excited. It’s 10.20 at night on the 6th of April 2005 and we have just moved into our little room at the hospital. Penny, our little dog, she is white apart for a little brown on her face and black spots on her ears, has been sent off to stay the next couple of nights at Grandma and Granddad’s flat in Marbella by the beach. Granddad Mike and grandma Eileen will walk her every day we are away. Everyone in your family, even Penny is just counting the minutes until you are here.
As I am typing this for you, I am listening to Cold Play on itunes they are one of my favourite groups. It is the night before you are due to be born. I am so excited to finally have you out and about in this big wide world with us. Up until tonight you have been a wonderful little bump that has so, so slowly turned in to a great big bump wrapped up tightly in your mummy’s tummy. Thomas, tonight your mum looks a little like a beautiful, blonde, tranquil hippopotamus.

Tomorrow morning you are going to be born in the Galves Hospital in Malaga. The hospital is in the old, pretty part of the town near the Picasso Museum and the cathedral. The hospital is old and feels much more like a hotel than a hospital. Picasso as you will learn is a very famous Spanish painter who was born in Malaga.

From our hospital room we can see Malaga cathedral from our windows; it is just across the street. We can hear the bells tolling in the cathedral tower every hour on the hour, marking time until you are here with us.
We have just been out for a little walk by the cathedral, to help your mum relax a little, it is a warm evening and the air is scented with orange blossom and the town looks so beautiful. This is a very good place to come into the world. The town is quiet at this time of year as the tourist will not be here for a month or so. We got a little lost but did not really mind as everything was so beautiful and new.
We just had to give ourselves a treat, so we had a coffee and a piece of the most delicious chocolate cake ever made. We sat outside a little café just opposite the church where I think Picasso’s father worked. We sat for a half hour or so and just soaked up the relaxed atmosphere. When you are old enough and if you like chocolate (I think you will like chocolate), we can share a little piece of that chocolate cake together if you want to.

This hospital feels like a very friendly place, the nurses and the doctors we have met so far have all been very nice. The nurses are dressed completely in white. White shoes, white tights, white dresses all topped off with a little white hat. They actually look like snowmen I am sure that they will look after you and your mum very well. Your mum is lying on her hospital bed and she is reading another baby book. We have read lots of these books. We are looking for the instructions on how to be a good mum and dad. We have no idea how to look after a baby but we will try our very, very best, I can promise you that much. We will make mistakes but we will both try as hard as we can to be good and loving parents to you. Please try to forgive us our mistakes. You are a precious gift and we have loved you since the day, since the very moment we knew that we were expecting you in our lives and we will love you more and more each day.

I am nervous about tomorrow. You cannot be delivered naturally because you are a breech birth. This means that you are sitting on your bottom rather than standing on your head in mummy’s tummy. It’s no ones fault that this happens it just does sometimes. What this means for us all, is that you will be delivered by Caesarean section. The doctors will make a little cut in mum’s tummy to let you out. Because of this I will not be able to see you being born, but I will be waiting outside the operation room to see you and cuddle you as soon as I can.

I will tell you a little about your name. I hope you like it as we spent ages and ages deciding on it. We both liked Thomas as your first name. My mum’s dad, brother and granddad were also called Thomas and your first name reminds me of them.
Your middle name ‘William’ comes from my dad. He is called William so your middle name reminds me of him. My dad’s dad was also called William, so your middle name also reminds me of my granddad.
Your last name Storer-Adam is a combination of your mum’s and my family names. Before we were married I was called Richard John Adam and your mum was called Helen Claire Storer. We both decided to combine our last names to become Storer-Adam. I am now Richard John Storer-Adam and your mum is Helen Claire Storer-Adam. I know your name is quite long and it will take a while for you to learn how to say it and how to spell it but we will help you with all that kind of stuff


I think that your uncle Andrew is going to fly all the way from Paris tomorrow just to see you. This is going to be a big surprise for your mum as Andrew and I have kept it as a secret.

Well it is now 1.00am and it is long past time for bed, goodnight Thomas William Storer-Adam see you tomorrow morning.