40 weeks and 3 days

I have had lots of suggestions from well meaning people about how to get this labour started. What no one has suggested was being involved in an armed robbery whilst out for coffee with a friend this morning.

The brief story is this, Amy and I met up with a friend and her son for a play and a coffee before I was going to the Dr at 12.30 to check on my cough. Whilst we were sharing milkshakes and banana bread with our children in a booth at a coffee shop we heard smashing noises coming from the jewelry store directly to my right, about three metres away. A waiter in the coffee shop went round to take a look and came running back and vaulted over the small wall next to us shouting “he’s got a sledge hammer, everyone look out” at this point I looked up and saw a very tall man dressed in black with a scarf over his head and a hoodie on coming out of the door to the jewelers. My friend turned around, saw him lift his arm, we heard two big noises and then she turned back to me screaming “he’s got a gun, get down” she pulled her son to the ground with her and I scrambled to get Amy from next to me, to on top of me as I fell to the floor next to the booth we were in.

It was a matter of seconds, the robbers took off through an emergency exit directly next to the shop and where we were sitting. It was all madness and pandemonium and I am ashamed to say that I lost it completely, hyper ventilating and crying, trying desperately hard to pull it together for the sake of Amy who was scared and confused as I clasped her to me trying to shield her, protect her, stop her crying. Security staff milled around, eventually the cops arrived, the staff at the coffee shop kept asking us if we were alright. I called Ron who arrived from his nearby office within minutes and took Amy and eventually I calmed down. My friend left to get home with her son and Ron drove me to the Dr’s.

My cough is a nasty one warranting antibiotics but more worrying was my blood pressure and the babies heartrate. The Dr suggested going up to the hospital to be monitored. We went, stopping only to get my hospital notes and sat in a lovely room in the delivery suite listening to the perfect sounds of our healthy baby. I stayed in the delivery suite from 2pm till we left at 7.30pm this evening, Ron left briefly earlier to meet his Mum at our house so Amy could go home with her. My blood pressure went up but then steadily came down as I hydrated myself, relaxed and started processing what happened to us this morning. I had a complete blood work up which came back perfect and my blood pressure went back to a comfortable 120/70 from a nasty 160/100 and the stand-in Obstetrician (mine is back tomorrow) said he was happy for me to go home.

I have been having contractions all afternoon/evening since 11am this morning after the incident but nothing regular that would indicate anything more than very early labour. So now we wait. And the internet waits with us. I have had a bath and am off to bed, its been a crazy day, completely unreal in many ways and shockingly real in others. The most important thing is that no one was hurt, Amy is fine, she was scared and confused but the quick arrival of her Daddy, a pink lolly and some stickers and she soon cheered up. I was shocked and scared but have had no ill effects and if this is what it takes to start up the contractions, well so be it. I will try and update tomorrow if we are still home, we have an appointment with my ob at 3pm if nothing has happened before that!