Time flies when you’re having babies!

I can’t believe it’s nearly two months since I last posted…

My (big shock!) baby girl entered the world at 11.15 am on Friday 10 April. Another Good Friday baby, just like J, who turned two on 6 April.

Naming her was fraught – what a minefield this naming game is. I had three lovely boys names lined up. I just didn’t think it possible that I would have a girl. Anyway, she’s ended up with Lucinda Allegra Mae. Whether she’ll hate me for it later in life will remain to be seen. We call her Lucy, a name her father has always wanted, ever since I was pregnant with B which seems like a million years ago (it was, in fact, 11 years ago).

Opting for a second home birth turned out to be absolutely the right thing for me – it was truly fantastic. Having done a four-week Hypnobirthing course from 32 weeks, this birth proved the best of the three – calm, quiet, much quicker, with no pushing involved; Lucy just came out on her own steam. I had a fantastic midwife, Irene, and her trainee ‘accomplice’, Liz, who just let me get on with it. “Just tell us when something’s happening”, they said to me when labour was well under way. “How will I know?” I replied. Ah, labour… It does wonderful things to your brain. When something did start to happen (ie the waters bursting forth), I pointed repeatedly downwards. (I thought it was the head crowning until the sudden flood suggested I was a bit ahead of myself). Ten minutes later, Lucy’s head really did crown and out she came onto the bed, all 9lbs 8oz of her.

At three weeks, six days, Lucy weighed in at 11lbs 4 oz, the same as the boys at 11 or 12 weeks. As a relative tiddler myself (usually size 8, five feet five), I marvel at the fact that I have produced such a pudding, albeit a very adorable pudding at that…

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