Scans, surprises and suites

ONCE again we found ourselves at the hospital, no real surprise as I think the car can drive itself there now.

Friday was scan day and what a lovely day we had, firstly the scan which Jacob really can’t be doing with now, he fidgets as soon as the gel goes on. My boy likes his privacy!

It’s strange as any check of the heartbeat that is done sees J do all he can so help everyone on the outside hear it.

He’s also developing a rather cute party trick of kicking for anyone that might ask to feel Pam’s bump, bringing delight to many…charmer!

Despite the fidgeting, he does relent and offered his mum and dad a surprise while the sonographer was looking at his feet.

We knew he was ‘almost certainly’ a boy but J decided to make sure and proceeded to give us all a quick flash…like I said charmer!!

After that Pam won huge praise for how she has controlled her diabetes during the pregnancy and, while J currently measures above the line on the growth chart, it concluded a fantastic day for us.

The next day saw us back at Worcestershire Royal for a tour of the delivery suite, something which initially I thought might be a bit of a waste of time.

I mean you don’t look at the dentists where you will have the root canal, nor look at the theatre you will have an operation so why look where you will have your baby.

It will have a bed and all the gubbins you see on programmes like One Born Every Minute so why visit?

Well, how wrong was I, what a lovely afternoon and how reassuring it was to see the layout of the place where J will breathe his first breath.

The lovely midwife Dawn had eight couples on her hands including Pam and I but was thoughtful and relaxed as she took us round the delivery suite.

First stop was the birthing pool suite, Worcestershire Royal only has one birthing pool suite but wowzer how deep is the pool? It’s the depth of a swimming pool, I can totally see why mums love it now as it must be like taking the world’s biggest bath!

There are blow up pools though and each delivery room has an en-suite so any water based pain relief could be taken care of.

We were taken round the whole delivery suite, including a glimpse into the theatre which was not in use when we visited.

Although I hope our journey doesn’t end in c-section, it could and more power to the midwives at Worcestershire Royal for tackling the fear head on, I hope it calmed the nerves of some.

A tour around antenatal followed and I have to say the facilities were first class and an ideal way for us to welcome J into the world.

A huge thanks to Dawn and the team on the day, when she was asked why it was rather quiet despite eight of the nine delivery rooms being ‘in use’ she responded: “I don’t think any are at the stage where they are making much noise yet”.

I suspect things might have got louder when we left!