A baby is a very emotional subject. That is natural – babies are totally defenceless and need to be protected. So Mother Nature ensured that mothers have very strong protective feelings towards their babies, and not just mothers; fathers have the same urges to protect their newborn.

Without these feelings the vast majority of human babies would die within hours of birth.

Babies are the future. They are a form of guarantee that our ways of life, our ideas, our hopes, our dreams won’t all vanish when we die.

They also don’t come as a surprise. The mother usually has seven or eight months’ warning, depending on when she realises that she is pregnant.

It has been known for a woman to go right through pregnancy without realising the weight she is putting on isn’t fat, but such cases are very rare.

The changes a woman goes through during pregnancy are so profound you have to be very unaware of yourself not to notice them.

So mother and father have months to prepare for the arrival of their child. For some, this is a magic time as they plan the baby’s first days, weeks, and even years. They become absorbed in making preparations for the new arrival.

For others, the preparations are made in a rush in that final month of pregnancy when it suddenly dawns that there is about to be another person in the home with their own very special needs.

Then the moment comes and there is the new life that depends utterly upon them, a new being that is partly the mother, partly the father, as well as its own personality, an entirely unique and new human being.

Births are a moment of unimaginable joy. Speaking as one who went through childbirth without pain relief, yes, it was agony, but the moment the baby was born, all the pain went. I’m told that is normal.

The sheer delight of seeing a new human being floods the body with so much joy so there isn’t room for anything else. Mind you, I was still exhausted. Childbirth is properly named labour.

When a baby is born terminally ill, the loss is tremendous. All those strong protective emotions become a hindrance rather than an asset. Your deepest instincts push you to do all you can to keep the baby alive.

They drive you to seek every avenue possible to find help and treatment. They blind you to the reality of the situation.

You look, hope and pray for a miracle. You spend your days by the baby’s bedside thinking of nothing else, you spend your nights sleeplessly thinking of people or hospitals that can help.

In the moments when you are at home, you wander into the nursery where the unused cot is waiting for the baby you have yet to bring home from hospital. You look at the toys you’ve bought and want so desperately to give them to play with and can’t.

All this is natural. All this is part of being a mother and a father.

But a doctor is trained to keep his or her emotions under control when caring for babies. They have to. If they became too emotionally attached to each baby they cared for, they would break down every time a baby died and eventually they would become mentally ill.

They care, oh yes, they care for every baby – they are human beings with the same protective feelings as the rest of us – but they are also able to stand back and see the baby as a medical case. They can be caring and compassionate, but also dispassionate.

They know only too well the truth of the saying: “Heal the wound, cure the illness, but let the dying soul go.”

Please, Connie and Chris, it’s all right to let Charlie Gard go. It does not diminish you as parents - you have done everything and more that you could for him - but it is time for him to start the life beyond.