Birthdays!

In a week my baby turns three. It has been an awesome three years. I seem to be raising a strong, independent young lady. Sometimes it is a struggle at her age, but if she stays that way as she grows up, I will be so proud of her.

It was her birth that inspired me to write Charlotte's birth scene in Another Chance. I have told this story on the old blog before, but with my daughter's birthday coming up, it seemed a good idea to retell it.

I was hospitalised with high blood pressure, and they decided to monitor me overnight and go ahead with an induction in the morning. My husband went home for the night to get some sleep about ten o'clock and I tried to get some sleep.

I'd been getting the odd twinge during the evening, and it hadn't amounted to anything regular. About midnight, it started intensifying, but at about 12.20am I was in a lot of pain. When the midwife checked me, my baby was ready.

It was like one of those crazy scenes in the movies. I was in the assessment unit, but hospital policy was that you're supposed to be in a delivery room, so off I went.

The doors between the different areas were pushed open by the bed with a crash. It was like being in a TV show. Mostly what I remember is screaming at the midwife for them to call my husband. He never stood a chance of getting there in time.

After I moved from one bed to another (no mean feat when you're labouring and wanting desperately to push) I was given the go ahead to push.

Two pushes later, my daughter emerged. My memories of that are pretty fuzzy, but I do remember saying it was too fast and I as pretty sure I was in shock from the speed of it all.

We nicknamed her "pocket rocket" to start with. To this day she does everything with such insane energy, she just never stops.

I love her with all my heart, and I just want all her wishes to come true.

Happy Birthday, Megan. You are amazing. Love, Mummy.