Seventy-three-year-old councillor '˜really enjoying being a dad again'

The veteran Castlereagh and Lisburn councillor told the News Letter he is “getting into the swing of it again”.

On April 30, Mr Jeffers and his wife Catherine, 45, welcomed David Samuel into the world at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald. He weighed six pounds and two ounces.

“I was there – this is a whole new thing they have now,” said Mr Jeffers.

“In my day, you sat out in the hall and then you were told you had a wee boy and everybody cheered.

“But now you are a birthing partner.”

Mr Jeffers - who has two children from his first marriage - said: “Catherine went for a section and it was very interesting.

“I was only there three or four minutes and they just handed him to me. He was like a wee rugby ball.”

He said he thought that including the father in the birthing process is “better than how it was”.

“It is a real bonding exercise,” he said. “I think it is down to psychology too and there is more bonding with the child. It is a great idea.”

Mr Jeffers said his new son is “very good” and doesn’t “yell and scream in the middle of the night”.

“You are up at about 2am to feed and then at about 6am and that is it so far,” he said.

“I get up at night as the assistant feeder helping out. And one of the good things is that I am not working full time and don’t have to get up to be at work at 8am.

“But I know it is very hard for young people who are working and need to get up two or three times during the night and then go to work.

“I appreciate now that I can catch up on my sleep.

“It is fantastic to be able to spend more time with him when he’s a baby.”

• Councillor Tommy Jeffers - who already has two grown-up children from his first marriage to Jean who died seven years ago - says the birth of his new son has given him “a new lease of life”.

“I have two other children - the boy is 49 years old and the girl is 47 years old,” he said.

“I have six grandchildren as well.”

He said he and his wife - who got married around three years ago - are “very happy with our baby”.

Mr Jeffers, who will turn 74 next month, said: “My children and grandchildren are delighted with our new baby. They couldn’t wait to see him.

“My wife is doing well, but it is hard to slow her down.

“We are very happy.”