Liz went in for a routine monitor and check yesterday. The registrar wasn't happy with the baby's heart rate so we came home and went back at 7 pm to be monitored again. After waiting for over 3 hours, Liz finally got to be monitored. At about 1:00 am they decided to admit Liz and check throughout the night which they did at 4 am and 7 am.

Liz called me at 8 am to say everything was OK and they would probably let her out. I got to the hospital at 11:30 am, they wanted to monitor her one more time before releasing her, however it took quite some time to see a registrar again. At about 2:30 pm the registrar decided that a caesarian section would be necessary because the trace was not good, the movement of the baby was low, Liz was overdue and the baby was big which would likely lead to a stressful labour.

At 6:00 pm Liz was taken to the delivery suite to be prepared for the section. As the anaesthetist was preparing the first spinal an emergency was rushed in and Liz was sent back to a room to wait for about 90 minutes. She then went back into the theatre and as the anaesthetist was preparing the second spinal another emergency was rushed in and Liz was sent back to a room to wait for another 90 minutes! Finally, at 11:00 pm Liz again went into the theatre. This time, accompanied by thunder & lightning, the spinal was successfully administered and just a few minutes later Millie was dragged kicking and screaming into the world.

Liz was extremely brave throughout the whole long and often frightening ordeal so I know that you will all be as proud of her as Millie and I are.

Liz and Millie are both doing very well. When last seen Millie was enjoying her first taste of milk.

Here's an interesting footnote for you. As you probably know, we didn't want to know the sex of the baby before the birth. During the whole pregnancy, Liz has never recalled dreaming of the baby, but during the last month or so I have twice dreamt of the baby and both times it was a girl. As you also know, we have had trouble deciding on names. We settled on Amelia or Millie quite some time ago but we have really struggled to find boys names we liked. If it had been a boy we would have had a name that we were least unhappy with, rather than a name we really liked. Maybe, unconsciously, we knew it would be a girl?

The name Millie/Amelia has no significance, we just like it. Although we plan to call her Millie she will be named Amelia so that when she is older she has a few names to choose from - Amy, Millie, Lia etc.

After all this careful thought, when she's a teenager she'll probably be known by her friends as Miz, assuming that teenagers don't spontaneously develop a gift for imaginative nicknames. After all, they haven't in the last 20 years. Why should the next 20 be any different?

Whatever happens, we know that all you grandparents, uncles, aunties and cousins will give Millie all the love and support over the years that she needs. With an extended family like you, she's going to be a very lucky girl.