EAST Surrey MP Sam Gyimah has a new constituent to tell him what to do – his first child.
Ethan John Lincoln Gyimah was born at 5.59am on April 4, weighing 7lb 5oz, at St Thomas' Hospital, after what Mr Gyimah described as "a very long labour and exactly two weeks overdue".
Speaking to the Mirror after he and wife Nicky, 35, had settled back at home in Limpsfield with their newborn son, Mr Gyimah said: "It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I know that I will be suffering several sleepless nights but it is fantastic.
"I am very happy."
The 37-year-old, who was elected MP for East Surrey in 2010 and became an assistant Government whip in October, paid tribute to his wife following the birth.
"I was there for the whole thing," he said. "But congratulations to Nicky, she did the work and I was cheerleader-in-chief.
"Now we start being parents; it is exciting but you are very nervous, every few moments we keep looking in the Moses basket to check he is ok.
"I have managed to take a bit of paternity leave and that has run into Easter, which is very nice."
As with so many new parents, the Gyimahs have been inundated with advice on parenting.
"The best advice has been 'expect the unexpected', which has certainly been the case," Mr Gyimah said. "You can never predict what is going to happen with a baby.
"You know you're going to have a routine and that is going to be tricky but what you don't expect is for the baby to impose their routine on you.
"Ethan sleeps during the day so we have had to adapt to him.
"Most things we have to do in life, we go to school and are taught to do, but with parenthood you are learning as you go along."
He laughed: "For example, what does it mean when their poo is yellow?
"When you go into labour you have got your birth plan and you expect to follow it, but it doesn't really survive contact with reality," he added. "It was a bit of a shock to the system to realise you can't plan all this."
The couple, who did not know what sex their baby would be in advance, had a few names to choose from and waited until they met their newborn before settling on his moniker.
"We like Ethan as a name because we wanted something biblical and Old Testament in the same way that my name is Samuel," Mr Gyimah explained.
"Ethan means optimistic and steadfast. We thought Ethan fits him more than some of the other names we had. John [Ethan's first middle name] is a family name and Lincoln is because we are both big fans of Abraham Lincoln."
Since Ethan's birth, Mr Gyimah said the new family have been inundated with messages of congratulations and people wanting to visit. Even Prime Minister David Cameron sent a card to the newborn baby.
"You don't realise how much a new life draws people together," Mr Gyimah said.
"People get in touch who you have not heard from in a while."
