Proud new parents Beyonce and Jay-Z have finally managed to get baby Blue Ivy Carter home, after a four-day stay at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital where she was born on Saturday.

The trio’s journey to their new New York house in their new, extravagant custom-built Mercedes van was executed with near-military precision, followed closely by an entourage of private security personnel.

While I’ve been as fascinated, as many parents have, by the sheer depth of media coverage following Blue’s birth, I couldn’t help but feel rather sympathetic towards the happy couple throughout the whole ordeal.

I say couple, because I’m sure Blue has been fairly oblivious to all the fuss. After all, maintaining a relaxing environment for the baby has surely been the overriding reason her parents have gone to such trouble in the first place.

But the furore will undoubtedly have proved taxing for mum and dad, every bit more so because the media frenzy is probably exactly what they’ve been dreading for months in advance.

Being a father myself, I probably have a better idea of what Jay-Z will be feeling than Beyonce, although in either case my opinion will be pretty far removed. But even though I’m not a multimillion dollar celebrity, I can still relate through my own very vivid memories of what I felt like in the days immediately following Jack’s birth, especially the journey from hospital to home.

With Jack’s mum still very much recovering, both physically and emotionally, I found it extremely hard ‘people managing’ hospital staff, phone calls and eager visiting family (from both sides). I can only imagine how stressful this up-scaled event has been for Jay-Z.

You feel incredibly protective, overwrought with emotion at having been slightly on the periphery of, while inextricably involved in, the whole birth process. You’re also ecstatic and relieved in equal measure, that baby is okay and you’re now, officially, a proud parent.

If crowds of gabbering, snapping journalists and photographers were also thrown into the mix, I would have probably been overwhelmed, if not been seething with anger at the absurdity of the situation.

Why should Beyonce and Jay-Z have to deal with this additional layer of public exposure when all they probably want to do is get home? Shouldn’t it be their right, even if only on this one very special occasion, to have some privacy and time to themselves without worrying about all this other celebrity stuff?

So with this in mind, I can entirely appreciate why they’ve opted for such exuberant preparations. And hats off to them, I hope their journey home was as close to relaxing and normal as possible.