Our beautiful baby girl was born at 9:30am this morning, weighing 7lb 2 oz (3231g).
Karin endured a 12 hour labour at home, before our midwife decided that it would be safer to have a cesarean section. We were picked up by ambulance at 8:30am, and our daughter was born at 9:30am.

She greeted the world by peeing all over the...

Hi all.
Sorry about the lack of updates.

Things have taken a funny turn this week.
We're now 15 days over due date (40+15).

On Monday we discovered that our baby is in a breech position - this was a complete surprise as up till now we've believed it was...

OK, so no news yet.

Karin is still happily chugging along.

Although we've had some positive signs that something is happening: the Braxton Hicks contractions that Karin had been experiencing for the last 3 months have changed to what we think are real contractions – and we even get groups of regular contractions (about 10 mins between them) – but then they disappear.

Still, the first time it happened (last night at about 1am) was enough to...

Well here we are, 5 days after the due date, and still no baby!
He/she seems happy to take their time.

Actually, Karin was remarking the other day about how damaging the concept of a due date can be - in our modern world where we're used to things happening at the prescribed day/time, it's easy to forget that your "due date" is more a tentative "average due date" and the actual birth can be 2 weeks either side!

Having said that, Karin has been experiencing a lot of stronger Braxton Hicks contractions the last day, which seem to be getting more regular... so maybe baby is finally on the way!

Still I know that you're all eagerly awaiting...

Well, today is the due date.
We're exactly 9 months since conception (or whenever they start the measurements).

And still no sign of the wee bairn.

So looks like he/she will indeed be late!

Karin has been having *lots* of Braxton-Hicks contractions, much stronger than before, which I'm sure is a sign that stuff is about to happen.
She also says that when the baby moves, it's a bit like having a large puppy in your tummy!
There can't be much room in there now, so come on little babiche, make your way out.

We can't wait to meet you!

Howdy all.

Another uneventful weekend (labour-wise!) and only 2 days left now.

We filled the pool on Saturday, and had a lovely swim in it on Sat night.

Filling the pool

Nothing new to report today, just a few thoughts.

One of the weird things (for me) about waiting for labour, is how to know when labour has started (yeah, ok, so I'm sure Karin will know, but I'm thinking from the man's perspective here).

Before I started reading the pregnancy books and attending ante-natal classes, I hadn't realised how much mis-information about labour we pick up from movies/tv/books - and how little men seem to know (or want to know) bout labour.

So without further ado, here is Daniel's List of Labour Facts for Men ®
(note: I offer no guarantees...

Well I guess I should have started a pregnancy blog round Week 1, but I didn't think of it! Hey ho.
Anyway, this is just an attempt to keep y'all updated with Karin and Babiche's progress. And it's easier (and less intrusive) than a mass mailout!

OK, so for those of you that don't know, Karin is now 39 weeks pregnant.
The due date is Wednesday 21st May 2008 or thereabouts – first babies are more likely to be late (so I've read).
Ironically, of the 8 couples in our NCT class (National Childbirth Trust - the UK's equivalent of the NZ Plunket Society) five have now had their babies – 3 of them before their due dates. So who knows!

So anyway, a brief rundown...

Dan: Well, Karin has been given the all-clear from the doctors here - turns out she had a touch of dysentery, but a large course of antibiotics have (hopefully) cleared that up!
So we're all set for our 6:00am flight back to the UK tomorrow morning!

Then we have 4 days of rapid preparation (i.e. re-packing!) before we fly out to Tokyo on Monday 5th December.

So, updating of this blog won't happen for a few days - but when I get a chance I'll update the last couple of days with more info and some photos, and hopefully some  info on Tokyo, as that's where we'll be!

Dan: Karin woke me early this morning in a lot of discomfort, and we decided we'd take her to see a doctor.
We rang the British Embassy when they opened to find out where a good doctor was located.
They directed us to the East-West Medical Centre in Delhi, a privately run clinic and hospital.

We went to see a doctor there, and he diagnosed Karin as suffering from acute Gastroenteritis.

So... they have admitted her overnight whilst they do blood and stool tests.
Hopefully it's just a bacterial infection that can be treated with antibiotics, as we're due to fly out in 36 hours...!

We'll find out tomorrow.