This is the first time I have posted on a blog. Today I am inspired to do this as my son,ABC, is 5 months old and I have failed to comment in anyway publically on his existance until now. ABC was born in November last year. I remember arriving at the maternity ward with his mother....we had to wait...two other couples had arrived just before us. It was 9pm in the evening....and she had been feeling contractions for about 24 hours and she had several baths and a good sleep. I had called the maternity ward the night before and been told not to come in until the contractions were every 3-4 minutes. Just one hour earlier my wife had been standing gripping onto the mantle piece screaming in pain. I was concerned that she may rearrange the plaster on the chimney breast...and in any case she was disrupting my enjoyement of th Only Fools & Horse repeat I was watching on UK Gold. Anticipating that we would be sent home I Sky+ the episode and agreed to drive her to the hospital. I was now standing in the maternity ward staring out of the window....it was firework's night and I could see downstairs to the front entrance of casualty. It was a busy night. About 10.30pm we were moved into an observation room where my wife was rigged up to a machine to measure contractions...and the babies heartbeat. After an hour monitoring and an examination the midwife declared my wife was in labour and would not be going home.... I was dispatched to the car to retrieve the bags that I had fortunately remembered to keep in. I was also provided with a token for 2 days free parking in the hospital car park. I returned to the labour ward where my wife was being attended to by a midwife. I was now midnight and I could feel a long night ahead. I set-up an IPOD with speakers and was instructed to play Pink Floyd's The Division Bell on repeat....I am still not sure whether this has had any lasting damage to my son but I am no longer able to listen to that album. Much time, tea blood sweat and tears later and ABC emerged at just after 6.30am and promptly crapped on my £150 Diesel Jeans (something at the time I was rather precious about but have since given up caring). I was again dispatched to inform the family and my wife and new son were moved to the ward. I was then sent home to get some much needed rest (10am). I returned in the afternoon to discover my wife being milked by two midwives... I made my excuses and purchased a Patient Line token so my wife could my mother-in-law from the hospital bed.
ABC and his mum returned home on the following evening. We had some difficult times over the next three months as ABC was distracted with colic for much of it. Now things are starting to get better...mum is back at work and ABC is developing a nice - if slightly spirited personality.
