Having been a father for exactly a week now, I am clearly qualified to impart all kinds of paternal wisdom. But the wisdom is not mine - it is the baby's. As Will and Kate will no doubt discover, their little princess' grasp of what's important in life, will be more akin to an old yogi or bearded professor than an infant waiting to 'grow up.'

In January this year, the Office Of National Statistics revealed that nearly half of babies are now born to mothers over the age of 30. And infants wi...

So there we were at the end of a journey and the beginning of a lifetime. These past nine months have been the longest, shortest, most confounding emotional roller coaster since... well, probably since the first time round...

I haven't enjoyed a full, uninterrupted eight hours sleep in nearly six years. I know this because I have had a lot of time to think about that fact. A lot of time spent lying in bed in the dark, eyes wide open pondering how long it has been since I have slept a full night and since when.

They say a picture paints a thousand words....

When my daughter was four months old I decided it would be the thing to sell up and shift our new and amorphous life together two-hundred miles south....

I thought it might be a good time to share one of our team's "Day in the Life of..." blogs. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did, and I hope that it also highlights the positive experience that the right person, with the correct attitude, knowledge, experience and training, can bring to a child's day at nursery.

My instinct tells me that if I want a baby it will come naturally or if it doesn't maybe it is not meant to be. Others have a different vibe about the whole thing and are comfortable with fertility treatment, IVF or other procedures. But for me and for many of my friends the cost was getting too high. It made me sick, frustrated, anxious and most of all I lost me.

So what exactly are these products made of and what are the risks? Fundamentally, I learned it boils down to two chemicals; Phthalates and Bisphenol, which worryingly can be found in a number of products that have been designed for babies and young children to put in their mouths.

This week the bump took command of the mothership. All things ego related receded into the background as I prepared for metamorphosis, from woman to 'mother' or 24 hour service station. Branded with a thick black line, a primal print of 'Keep Off' ran the length of my curvature.

In a grey stone church in Dublin, I watched myself from a time since past; as a seven year old, Jewish girl wanting to belong. The place was full of people, though none were praying and nothing was quite what it seemed to be.

At some point during the first six weeks you will wonder whether you love your baby as much as you should. You're not strange and there's nothing wrong with you for feeling like this - everyone does.

I had always expected I would have kids. As a child you dress dollies and give them names. Mine were two girls, just like my sister and I. Charlotte and Helena. Then you start dating boyfriends and imagine what your children would look like. Then life happens. Career, divorce, loss of a parent, sadness.

I have always enjoyed a solitary state without distractions, so I can 'away with the fairies' or lose myself in the lull of a soft breeze, carrying smatterings of conversations, bird song, the distant flow of traffic, barks, bells, road works and that which is named silence in a city such as this.