At midnight on Monday night we opened our door, shovelled what might be considered food down our throats and collapsed into bed, holding each other tightly and feel asleep, exhausted by the days events.
When we woke on Monday morning Katy (this is the Mum-To-Be) was having some pretty intense cramps, and a lot of severe back pain, we put it down to the pregnancy and I dragged myself off to work, not really thinking any more of it. As I sat 5 hours later drinking a cup of coffee and admiring the view from outside the coffee shop in which I work I rang her up, the pain hadn't gone away and she had had her show, things all of a sudden got very real. I tried to keep calm and told her to ring the doctors and find out if we could go in earlier, which I thought would just help keep on top of everything. But inside my heart was racing, and whilst it may have been down to the copious amount of coffee had already drunk I suspected this news wasn't helping!
Hours later I was venturing home, flowers in one hand paracetamol in the other, walking down the high street that I took in a deep breath and it hit me, it's starting. It might not be very long at all until I'm a dad.
The paracetamol were taken and we sat there, waiting for the pain to subside, an hour later nothing, an hour later again we were trying to navigate the never previously visited corridors of RD&E 'Women's Health Centre'. Eventually finding the Labour Unit and being offered a bed.
As she lay on the bed and I awkwardly sat beside her on a horrible grey hospital chair I was once again struck by the beauty of it all, how magnificent it is creating this lovely little being inside of her.
... Some prodding, poking, beeping, feeling, monitoring and talking later, we were advised to go home and relax. She wasn't coming out tonight, the chances are she'll be earlier than we all anticipated, but not tonight. She's cooking for just a little bit longer.
And so we sit, and wait. I go to work where I wait, I wait for a bus to come home, and wait with my beautiful family, for our next member to join us.
And when she does there are a couple of things that are certain, it will be scary, it will be exciting, she will be beautiful, she will be fresh, she will have an excellent mother and a loving father, she will be cherished, and it's almost 100% certain that she will never miss an episode of H I M Y M or The Big Bang on E4 at 5pm Daily.
So as I left the maternity ward that night I was struck by the idea that I'm ready, for all of it. That, and how many men are carrying ladies handbags in a 'Women's Health Centre'
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