WEEK 42

Little did I think, or should I say hope, when I started compiling this diary that I would be still at it two weeks after the due date. Two pregnancies and two marathons for us – is this some kind of test of perseverance or what!

We inch closer to the 10-day deadline set by Maria’s doctor before the dreaded inducement process must begin, and are almost resigned to our fate – a replay of our previous birth story with Sam.

I go to work as normal, albeit on an afternoon/evening shift, hoping against hope that something will happen… and it does!!

It’s around 10pm, I’m winding down at the office before setting off for home and the phone rings – it’s Maria… She’s having what she terms as bad period pains and has attached herself to a TENS machine, just in case.

My mood changes into urgent anticipation and I immediately pack up, telling my colleagues that this could be the big moment.

When I get home Maria is surprisingly relaxed, she explains that the pains had gradually got stronger through the day but, maybe due to her history of false alarms, she appears to almost write off the chances of this being the onset of labour.

We go to bed and, as is my habit, I fall asleep straight away. However, Maria can’t sleep and she watches the clock, feeling the pains getting stronger and stronger until, at 5am, she is forced to wake me from my slumber.

"I think we should go to the hospital" she says – I can’t believe it, but it’s true, just like in the movies as they say. It’s all systems go!!

I ring my sister and tell her that she will have a house guest for a while – Sam. She’s even more excited than we are when we arrive and hand over our pyjama-clad son. Then it’s off to the maternity wing – this is the moment we have been waiting for for so long.

Come back next week to find out what happened next!