V’s back from hospital, but the baby’s still inside. False alarms are pretty common, but the due date is tomorrow, so next time will most likely be it.
I had planned to come and stay with her in the hospital, but when I got there I found that she was sharing a room with a woman who’d just given birth by cesarean, and her baby. The only bed they had for me was a camp bed without any sheets or pillow which would block the other woman’s route to the toilet, so we decided I’d be better off at home, only a five-minute taxi journey away.
The other woman and her family were entertaining enough – particularly her four-yer-old niece who, as far as we could tell seemed to be allowed to do absolutely anything including climbing into the baby’s cot and sticking her hands into sterilized milk bottles. The woman’s husband was also one of the meekest most frightened looking men I’ve ever seen. Apparently he wasn’t happy that his wife had given birth to a daughter, but he’ll just have to get over it.
V seemed ok, her sister and mother stayed with her in the daytime and I came to hang out in the evenings. Here she is:

The baby is HUGE now, he/she must be coming out before the week’s up.

We’re all back at home now, the false alarm over, but the next blog is very likely to be from the hospital. The bags are still packed, waiting by the front door of the flat.