MAAAAAATRON ... I mean Midwife ...

Well we had our first midwife visit this morning at the Winshill Medical Centre. The building it's in used to be the Winshill Community Centre (it's far nicer now, no thugs fighting or vandalism anywhere near it). And I couldn't believe how quiet and empty the place was - is no-one ill this week? My surgery on Gordon Street is on the other side of the town, and on a "quiet" day is like a bustling street market in Islamabad.

I don't really know what I was expecting from the midwife, but it turned out to be all about filling out forms, asking lots of questions about history of dementia, insanity or syphilis in the family, and looking at a chart suspiciously similar to an astrology chart to ascertain a due date, which for us is December 16th. I was really pleased because that was my late maternal grandfather's birthday as well. Would be nice to have him / her born on that day.

We'll have our first scan in the next month or so, so I'm really looking forward to that! My mate Simon and his wife Helen showed me the first scan of their baby in March, and I remember wondering what that must feel like to see that and know it's your kiddie ... well now it's our turn!

The midwife told us about the two choices we have for birth location.

1. Burton Queen's Hospital, or
2. Samuel Johnson Clinic, Lichfield.

We were sold, Lichfield it is :-) ... you see, the Lichfield clinic is all about water births and all manner of therapies to help relax expectant mothers before birth, and the midwife assured us that it is a far nicer experience all 'round. Thing is, why've they chosen Samuel Johnson as the name? I mean, I know he was born in Lichfield and all that but he doesn't seem to have much affinity with childbirth. It'd be like calling one in Nuneaton the "Larry Grayson Maternity Hospital" or one in Windsor called the "Henry VIII Maternity Clinic". They just don't seem to go.

I suppose if you were really sad in looking for a tenuous link, you could always say that Johnson "gave birth" to the English dictionary ... I'll get my coat.