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The whole story 1: In the begining |
October - November 2002
October 20th 2002
Toured the labour ward in the hospital this morning. It's a bit of a bombsite because of building work, but it didn't seem to deter the ten other couples with us wandering around looking interested. Hopefully things will be better by the time we arrive, although the workmen are using the birthing pool area as a rest room, which rather puts me off having a baby in one. What happens if, as the baby gasps its first breath, it swallows some old dog-end. Hardly an auspicious start.
October 25th 2002
Sue's wedding. Passed the time travelling to Nottingham trying to choose a name. Sadly, none of our choices coincided, but I do seem to have won a small victory with Delilah, as it seems to have dropped off the list. Current Jackie favourites include Lilly (as in 'fag ash lil'), Mia (as in Mamma), Leah (as in the jet) and Daphne (as in old woman/ Scooby Doo). Unfortunately all my choices are apparently either too traditional or too
common, so we're probably going to end up with Doreen. If it's boy we're pretty settled on Matthew.
November 2nd 2002
Don't like Matthew any more. Went to Dick and Jo's and they put me off by spitting over me every time they tried to get their tongues around the 'th's' in Matthew Smithen. I shouldn't be swayed by them really - they were going to scar a child with the name Harvey. Lucky for them they had a girl or they could have spent months with psychiatrists.
November 4th 2002
NCT class tonight. The usual bizarre collection of good advice and unpleasant warnings. Tonight for example we were made to peruse pictures of strangely shaped new-borns with all manner of disfigurements, rashes and deformities. I guess it beat the video of the placenta emerging from the woman, but I can't help thinking some things should be left as a surprise. After 24hrs of labour I'm sure you wouldn't really care if your baby had stork rash. More interesting was the relaxation techniques, although the teacher's belief that we all spend our evenings massaging each other in scented oils is sadly misguided. Well it is from our perspective, I can't guarantee what goes on behind the doors of some of those other middle class households. It was all one way traffic anyway, with the men massaging the women. What about our stress?
November 6th 2002
Our choice of names hasn't won universal approval. Paige for example is thought to be a boy's name (which it's not in case you're wondering). I reckon we're now down to Elena/Grace or Luke, which means it will probably be Daphne. No Martin, be strong! Must remember to write myself a post-it not to succumb on the day. Perhaps I should pack that in my birthing bag, along with crossword book, novel, Mars bar and water. I wonder what Jackie's putting in hers….
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