Written 20th January 2011
Today we met the midwife, and if they’re all going to be as nice as her then this pregnancy will be a lot less stressful than I thought it was going to be. We sat and chatted for about an hour and felt looked after and un-rushed. We were both asked an incredible amount of questions about our family medical histories and were both greatly relieved to learn that according to the 10cm thick NHS book of baby making interrogation this classifies as an extremely low risk pregnancy.
Em asked about the birthing centre at the maternity unit and we found out that they have what sounds like a very nice birthing area that is a nice mix of home and hospital. We were told that (unless the pregnancy gets complicated) there’s nothing to stop us having this baby at home, although I’m not too keen on the idea, our cats have a habit of throwing up on things at the most inopportune of times.
So the midwife appointment was incredibly reassuring, and I think I did really well not to make any stupid jokes. Well nearly. I managed to keep it down to a bare minimum- when I was told by the midwife that I was involved in this pregnancy too I replied ‘just the fun bit so far’, and when I got out of Em’s way so that she could have an alarming amount of blood sucked out of her arm I told the midwife how excited I was that there were some toys on hand for me to play with.
There are certain aspects and ‘things that need to happen’ when having a baby that we haven’t given much thought to until now. It was much the same when we got married and we forgot to take money to pay the registrar, or to choose wedding vows. One of the baby things we hadn’t given much thought to was how to break the news to our parents and siblings (including a great northern lunk called Graham who is an honorary member of our family). Em wanted to wait until we went to visit her parents next weekend before breaking the news, but fearing she might burst with anticipation before then she gave them a call. After seeking reassurances from her mother that she was sitting down (her mother that is, Em was hopping from foot to foot) Em broke the news. Even although Em was talking to her mum on a mobile phone a few metres away from where I was nervously standing I could still hear a lot of squealing and half formed words howling down the line. Em’s dad was equally pleased and immediately sent me a text message congratulating me, and telling me that my hard work is already over, and that from now on I can put my feet up...
*****
Just as I typed that last sentence my mum rang me back, she had been in a prayer meeting with two of her friends. My mum gets together once a week with these friends so that they can pray for their children, and I must admit I was secretly hoping that when I asked her what she was praying for that she would answer ‘babies’. My mum is very excited and a bit giggly about the whole affair, and my dad (who is usually very calm and steady) reacted extremely positively and started rambling on about when I was born, something I don’t think we’ve talked about before!
When we told our ‘adopted brother’ Graham he was more freaked out than we were, his face when he was looking through one of the many books the midwife gave us was priceless. He looked up at Em with a horrified look on his face and said, “You might wee yourself when you laugh!”
Above all today has left me feeling very humble and grateful to have both sets of parents living nearby, and for having our health, and love, and sunshine, blue skies and lollipops.
P.S My favourite quote of the day was Em saying that her mum recently told her that she came from a long line of child bearers...
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