The Unexpected

Three children had flown the pre school nest. There was part-time work for the mind, extra cash for the pocket, and occasional "coffees" and browsing in town with friends. Life had become almost orderly... until, you guessed it.

This diary is a humorous account of how children helped their Mum and Dad accept, enjoy and anticipate the arrival of a fourth child.

"Mummy, why are you so sick? Go to the doctor. You'd take us to the doctor if we were sick. Why don't you go?"

"Mummy, are you really? (Peals of laughter which lasted for days). I knew it, I knew it. I just knew it."
"Mummy, it will be our secret, ok."

At school the next day... "Natalie, can you keep a secret? My Mummy is having a baby."

At story time... "We are having another baby." "Oh, yeah, is your cat having more kittens?"

Every meal from then on... "Here we are together, together, together. Here we are together and we thank you for our food. There's Mum and Dad and... and ... and... and... baby."

Prayers before school... Dear God, we pray that baby will have a good day sleeping in Mummy's water bed tummy.

Dear God, we pray that Mummy won't get tired today carrying around her baby.

More morning talks... "Our baby is as long as this ruler now."

A video of the ultra sound scan at 18 weeks shows "Our baby is lovely but why isn't it in colour?"

Names... "I want it to be Sarah or Joshua." "Yuk, there's a Joshua is in my class and he's horrible. No, I like Cindi or Barbie." "No, I like Michael Jackson. Why can't we call him Michael Jackson if he's a boy?"

At regular intervals... "Can we look in that book to see how big our baby is now? How long is it? What can it do? How did it get started in your tummy?" Look, that picture shows its unbelievable chord."

An overheard telephone conversation: "Dad's lying down and Mum's having a baby."

"Mummy, I like your big tummy. I'd like you to have a big tummy all of the time."

And marked on the calendar in red in a little person's writing, "Baby might be born." SJ