WOMEN are remarkable creatures, though most of us are too knackered to make much of a song and dance about it.

That was my main conclusion on reading about Clare Hart, a 40-year-old Abertay University student who found herself facing the sort of dilemma no careers adviser ever puts in the brochure: would she make it to graduation, or would the baby get there first?

Her due date had been July 3, but young Sol MacIntosh Hart-Gordon, already showing a healthy disregard for anybody else’s plans, arrived at 5.15pm on July 9, weighing 6lb 11oz.

By the next day, Clare felt well enough to attend the ceremony – which is impressive, given that I need a sit-down and a cuppa after trying to get parked near the Lisburn Road.

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If I’m honest, the story landed with me as inspiration given how, at 39, I have somehow surveyed the business of balancing a career with raising four boys and decided that what my house really lacked was another wee person with no respect for sleep, schedules or anyone saying “Catch yourself on”.

So I........

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