Helen: Oh wow, good luck! But do you think you can spare any gory details until after we’ve all given birth? I’m getting twinges just thinking about it. Hope it goes well! Xx

She had a good point. I was trying not to imagine what Lin had decided not to share. Helen was right; perhaps it was best to keep quiet until there was happy news to announce or a joyful birth story to describe. I wondered whose would be the first. A little bubble of excitement allowed itself to ripple through my veins; not long now until we would be meeting the bean. I wondered what it looked like – was it a boy or a girl? I was still leaning towards a girl prediction. With hair or without? All tiny, red and scrunched up inside of me. I stroked my belly and another contraction began to take hold. I pumped out hot breath and looked up to the heavens and prayed for our precious baby to arrive safely, before yelling for Jason to, ‘Time it this time, for God’s sake! They are definitely getting closer!’

After an aborted attempt to go to bed, by 3 a.m. the contractions were coming thick and fast – some every ten minutes – and I couldn’t wait any longer. Jason helped me do up his largest hoodie over my pyjama top and we drove to the hospital, with me still in my slippers. It was agonizing sitting in the car and I adopted a position where I was practically kneeling in the footwell. I really hoped that we wouldn’t be turned away – or pulled over by the police.

I spotted Lin waiting outside the hospital doors as we arrived. She was on the phone.

‘Should we say anything?’ Jason asked as we approached.

‘No, we bloody shouldn’t!’ I yelled. The last thing I wanted was to bump into someone I knew when I was about to enter the transitional stage of labour. But she’d already seen us.

She was scrolling through her phone and whispered loudly:

‘Hi guys, we have Charlie, our beautiful baby boy! I’m just making arrangements for the placenta tablets. You’re up next then – baby’s coming early. Good luck!’ She looked at me and winced.

‘All okay with Susie?’ Jason asked, shifting the two pillows stuffed under his arm and setting down the wheelie case momentarily. I was annoyed he hadn’t remembered to bring my duvet and the third emergency pillow, yet we seemed to have enough luggage to move in here for a week; something I hoped we weren’t about to do.

‘She’s doing brilliantly, just, um, a long labour,’ Lin sideways glanced at me and winced again. Noticing the fear in my eyes, she smiled sympathetically, but I had already clocked how exhausted she looked. To me, she looked like she hadn’t slept for a couple of days and was in grave need of a strong drink.

I grimaced; another contraction. It was getting more intense by the second. I gritted my teeth through the pain. Now wasn’t the time for small talk.