Things to do while waiting for a baby - Part 2

Yes..it’s the blog I hoped I wouldn’t have to write, we’ve thrown the entire Indian cookbook at the baby - dansak, madras, vindaloo - and yet we’re still waiting.

This week (rather than us inventing time filling excuses like taking duvet covers to the dry cleaners) the French national health service has stepped in to swallow our days. Every morning we’ve been off to Pertuis hospital for scans, acupuncture, essential oil massages and raspberry leaf tea. The baby is now over a week late by English standards and the midwives are beginning to think Tanya is something of a medical marvel.

After the first course of acupuncture a gaggle (yes there are plenty of midwives at French hospitals) gathered around the machine which had been monitoring the contractions. They shook their heads, they huddled together in consultation and finally they agreed that something completely out of the ordinary was happening - according to the peaks on the graph, Tanya should have been in the agonies of labour, but there she was happily asking what a contraction actually felt like.

And so we wait - in the meantime here are some nice photos taken on our route to Pertuis hospital.

As I write the breaking news is that Tanya has begun to feel some contractions and they are beginning to come regularly. I will leave you on that cliff-hanger and post any news when I have it.