The Baby Dash

I knew it was going to happen soon enough, especially as my sister Lucie was overdue by a good few days…

What I didn’t know was whether I would make it back to be with her during her labour like I was last time around a couple of years ago! It all felt a bit deja vu with the call in the morning to say that things were beginning to happen, and it was a case of now or never with no further reasonable flights available over the next few days (thanks to German holidays and certain impending football matches)! So, with yet another half an hour’s packing grace, I set off for the airport…

Everything actually went smoothly travel wise, and again I was treated to amazing views of London on the approach.

There are so many evident changes as the city gets ready for a busy summer, what with the Olympics etc. and it was great spotting all the new stuff from the air. Have to say I am not sure about the (almost finished) Shard, it’s one strange looking building…

Expecting queues at immigration, I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of them, and just sailed on through – which was probably just as well…

Around 40 minutes later, I turned up at my sisters flat expecting to accompany her to the hospital. Thankfully we did have a midwife present who had just popped in to see how things were going,  but I could tell that we would need to get our acts into gear and get Lucie to the hospital sharpish.

It made for a pretty crowded scene with one sister looking after the two year old in another room (with the TV up loud!), myself and the midwife supporting my labouring  sister in the bathroom, and my mother and my sister’s husband frantically searching for clothes she could bear to put on for the journey.  With the expectant mother dressed and in the hallway, we were just about to leave when she suddenly announced she needed to push!

Then it was a case of drop everything, grab every towel available in the house, and cheer-lead from the sides as my beautiful new nephew made his rather swift entrance into the world!

I had been in the building for exactly 24 minutes!

What an honour to be there though, I am so grateful that I was able to make it back. I am also grateful to the incredibly calm midwife who kept us all level headed, and of course most of all that the baby was healthy and arrived safely.

Perhaps my most favourite moment was witnessing a newly promoted big brother meet his new sibling for the first time, having patiently waited for so long. He took one look at him, said “wow” and welcomed the new arrival with a rather cute “honk honk” of his nose….

Updated to add that my Mum’s photograph of this momentous day has been included in a huge exhibition called A Day.org 

Tagged as: aday.org photography esther gumn, Being present at your nephew's birth...