My beautiful daughter was born four months ago to a storm of well-wishing and billowing fanfare, writes David Campbell.

We couldn’t move for pink wrapping paper and elaborate one-wear-only dresses; we couldn’t sing an out of tune lullaby for being drowned out by the sound of the phone ringing or buzzing or both with a far flung aunt or new pal passing on their love.

It was hard being a host to the many friendly faces – making cups of tea with two sugars when it was really bottles that needed four scoops – having to make people feel at home when really all you wanted to do is show them the door.

My fiancé was a trooper, accommodating but cripplingly tired much of the time. Our daughter wasn’t very well when she was born and was placed on antibiotics almost immediately which made us even more protective of the little parcel we had brought home but it didn’t stop the stampede.

We just wanted her for ourselves, to lock the door and look at her all night, which is exactly what we did when we didn’t have our entertaining hats on. We looked and looked, and slowly she started looking back which just made us look all the harder.

Bottles need sterilizing, something I had only a vague idea about before she was born, but I was too busy staring. I didn’t want people to come because I wanted to stare at the little one.

On first glance this blog post may seem ungrateful but that misinterprets its meaning – we weren’t ungrateful for the gifts we received or the outpouring of love that came our way, indeed it was so overwhelming it’s hard to describe.

But what I mean to say is that the power of having a child, your own living breathing person – who relies on you entirely and without prejudice – is all that matters in that moment.

To close the door to the world and be together – to endure sleepless nights and tears and tiredness – and enjoy our little girl. That feeling just takes over, you have no hope of fighting it.

I hadn’t expected to be a dad and my partner hadn’t expected to be a mum so we had made no plans for or thought deeply about the position we found ourselves in. It was all new, everything from buying the right size of nappy to applying for childcare benefits (which we never got) was foreign to us.

The first four months as a team of three has been tough in ways perhaps we weren’t ready for but they have also been the most important four months of our lives.

And we’re ready for visitors.