Looking forward to Baby Ethan's arrival...

At some point in the next couple of weeks, my new nephew, Baby Ethan, will be born. We already have a little idea what he looks like from one of these full colour 4D scans. He is the spitting image of his Daddy which, according to my friend, is one of those primal biological arrangements to ensure said Daddy recognises him as his own and doesn't eat him. Anna was my husband's double when she was born, so there may be something in that.

This is the first time we've known either the sex of the baby or their name in advance. It's all very exciting. Baby Ethan is my sister's fifth child and her husband's third, so six siblings are eagerly anticipating his arrival. My sister has form for giving birth at the most inconvenient times for my Liberal Democrat activity - both Laura and Aimee were born during Liberal Democrat conferences, Emma was born during the 1997 election campaign and Ru was born when I was 32 weeks pregnant on the very anniversary of the formation of the SDP. Lucky boy.

We've had a bit of a family sweepstake on when he would arrive and how much he would weigh. I reckoned, for maximum inconvenience to me, he would be born today, just as I head to Brighton for the weekend. If it's not today it's bound to be next Thursday as I head to Dundee for Scottish Conference. 

My sister's pregnancies don't come uncomplicated. She has been so amazing in the way she has dealt with a pretty difficult time. She's kept smiling for much more of the time than I would ever have managed and just got on with stuff. I have nothing but admiration for her. She is absolutely brilliant. I can't wait until she has her gorgeous wee baby boy and I have another little sweetheart to adore. I'm so looking forward to a wee cuddle with him. I'm not sure I'll be allowed though. When Emma was a week old, I changed her and put her outfit on the wrong way round. I don't think she or my sister has ever forgiven me...

As I published this, I realised that it was my 3000th post on this blog. Quite an auspicious moment.