hi all,

the due date is tomorrow, but no signs of arrival yet.

I have cleared the next two weeks except for two days - on Tuesday i have a meeting and formal dinner - one of those ones you can't change and next thursday i am supposed to be going to a charity clay shoot for Help for Heroes http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/ where we get to shoot 300 clays in a day, then have a big fat lunch at Ramster House.

so that is only two days in the next 14 that baby needs to avoid, so let's open a book now, which of these days do you think baby is going to arrive?

i am betting on the night before the shoot, which of course will mean i can't go...

place your (virtual) bets please, but give the real money to Help For Heroes...

Dad

Congratulations,

I hope everything goes well for you, you will have to let us know all the details when your baby arrives.

STILL NO NEWS!

i think birth dates are a little imprecise anyway, so no real worries, i am hoping labour will start early saturday morning in time to get in, have the baby and get home saturday evening - think that will happen? not a chance!

no booze until baby comes, just in case i need to stay up all night as with the last two - its amazing how healthy you feel after a week with no alcohol or nicotine - i must try this more often!

dad

I guess you have your hands full if she has turned up, but is she here yet??

NO NEWS! how frustrating is this?

tomorrow i am supposed to be shooting all day, but i think we all know what's going to happen tonight don't we?

If nothing happens by saturday morning, we have an induction booked for 11am, so with max 24 hrs labour, should be a dad again by sunday.

you know what the worst bit isd? you know the baby is fully formed and if born now would be safe and happy. every day extra inside mum just seems like an extra day of risk.

being dads we can hardly imagine how mum must feel. frustrated, upset, tired, pensive, worried, anxious - that doesn't even begin to describe it.

What do you doctors and midwives out there think? should induction be at 1 week overdue, or do some mothers just have longer pregnancies than others?

dad

And here she is!

Georgina was born at 3.42am yesterday... 7lb 10oz (3.45kilos) and all is well.

It was a slightly close run thing, because we had an induction booked on Saturday, i thought it would be safe to go to the pub on Friday night with my brother in law. had a few pints, got home at about midnight and crawled into bed.

At 2.30am was woken by a plaintive calling of my name from downstairs, where Mrs was on all fours, maternity notes and phone next to her contractions one minute apart. we got a cab to the hospital and she was born 40 minutes after we arrived.

when i asked Mrs if it had come on very suddenly, she said it had started about midnight, but she wanted me to get a couple of hours sleep!

we are back home now.

Meet Georgina!