At the beginning of May Gill went in to a small and very comfortable maternity hospital with Dr Lee promising to be there for the delivery, even though he was loath to drive in Kingston at night as he had been held up at gunpoint and only felt safe with a loaded pistol in his glove compartment. Nevertheless, he stayed into the evening for the event, and he and I rather enjoyed chatting in a small office while Gill and the midwives got on with the business.
We were thrilled with Katy's arrival on 2nd May 1974 but the person who was every bit as excited was Blossom, who rapidly became Katy's second mother.
After the birth I went home to celebrate with the neighbours, which was a bad idea as, next morning, I had to go to the British High Commission to register her birth. When it came to the paperwork I remembered her first name and how it was to be spelt - with a 'K' - but I couldn't for the life of me recall what we had agreed for a middle name.
It was Ruth, but it never appeared on the birth certificate and we forgot about it as we felt that Katherine offered plenty of diminutives for her to chose from. It's interesting that, in the letters Gill wrote to my parents, she referred to her as 'Kate'.
Kate/Katy proved to be a very happy baby. She opened her eyes almost immediately and began putting on weight. In her letters Gill refers to her as 'a beautiful baby'. Elizabeth was very good with her, not showing any signs of jealousy - though Katy's arrival was not allowed to impinge in any way on her hectic social life.
Katy had one fault: she was not a huge enthusiast for daylight, so most of her wakeful time was at night, and she slept peacefully through much of the day. As a result, Gill was exhausted.
It was a very healthy climate for children and the two girls loved the beaches, though we did manage to allow both of them to be burned in the sun, Katy having a very nasty sore as a result of a particularly bright day on a beach. This picture records Katy's first swim.
Blossom was utterly devoted to Katy. She had no children of her own so she transferred her love to this little mite. She was convinced that Katy was extremely intelligent and would, in due course, hold down a very high-powered job. Having Blossom around when we had a small baby was wonderful as we trusted her totally, and she was very good about coming in to give extra help when Gill needed it.
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