Well - what a day I've had.  I was convinced that this baby was going to put in an appearance next weekend - but she chose to come early. (Well 41wks officially - but I think she wasn't due until tomorrow)

Born this morning at 11:10, weighing 3740g (8lb 4oz in Old Money).

Everyone's doing just fine - Morgan's very, very excited. Ruaridh's a bit more nonchalant so far. Lucy's relaxing, and I'm on paternity leave!

If you're in a present-buying mood (well, a bloke's got to try, eh?), see Lucy's Gift List.

Like our previous two, this baby will (hopefully) be born at home, in water.

This time, though, we've bought a pool rather than renting one. But either way, you still want to do a test run a few weeks in advance of the date, so this was ours.

I don't expect this to be the final location - that's planned to be the dining room. However, if Lucy changes her mind...

Lucy's Birth Story of Ruaridh

Before the birth

Morgan was due on August 22nd 2001. I did a lot of reading when I was first pregnant - including a lot by Michel Odent and Sheila Kitzinger. Using this knowledge and a lot of on-line conversations from various e-groups I had joined I decided that I did not want to have an intervention-filled hospital birth and started looking into home births. I specifically wanted a water birth and started to look around Edinburgh for support. I soon found the Birth Resource Centre which offered advice as well as birth classes which I quickly signed up for. They were able to give me the name of a woman who I could hire a birth pool from. I also booked a home birth with my local community midwives. All was looking good. I was told that my local midwives would support me for two weeks before my due date and ten days after. I knew that the baby would be late so looking at the dates I reckoned I would go into labour on day ten and give birth on September 2nd during the Italian Grand Prix. How close I was - Morgan was born on September 2nd, after the Belgian Grand Prix (I had the Grand Prixs wrong in my diary). Anyway - here's Morgan's story:

I have been lucky. All over the world I have travelled to amazing places far and wide, meeting beautiful people and seeing grand sights. Sometimes I am inspired to write about a happening, a moment or a special time. This is one of those occasions as I have been honoured this year to share in some of the great lead up and preparation before your birth into the world. And, on the day you - Morgan Rowan Burns - were born I was there with Aunty Anna, Midwife Evelyn and Midwife Ramona supporting your Mum and Dad. What a brilliant time!

Dear Morgan. I want to tell you about your birth day. No, not
the ones where you get cake and candles but the very first one - when
you were born.