Saturday, July 15, 2006

No Sleep at Whipps Cross

State of play: strong, painful contractions every few minutes, waters broken, baby slowly descending.

Neither of us have slept for over 24 hours, but Emily's finally been given effective pain relief for her contractions (in the form of an epidural) and she's getting some kip. I've headed home to grab a shower and fresh clothes. I haven't seen anything outside hospital grounds since yesterday afternoon. All battered blue paint and robust, old grubby used-to-be-white equipment.

Em's been looked after by some wonderful women - a warm, caring Ghanian midwife, a chatty, ultra-professional anaesthetist from Paisley. Whatever the shortcomings of the NHS, it's impossible to fault the staff at times like this.

Right, I'm off to grab a shower...

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