There are lots of pictures under Sophie in the Photos section. 

To answer some  Frequently Asked Questions:-

    (1)   Yes we are staying in the UK.   At least for now.

    (2)   The name Sophie was simply one we liked.   It is of Greek origin meaning " wisdom" .

    (3)   The name May is the middle name of Rachel's grandmother.

    (4)   Sophie's surname is Hancock.   We have honoured  the Shirley name by making it a              second middle name.   We thought it too cruel to give her a hyphenated name.

    (5)   Rachel's surname is definitely still Shirley.

    (6)   The length of the labour depends on when  you  consider  it began.   However the final

           pushing stage lasted less than two hours.   See below for more details.

During the first trimester Rachel had the classic, and rather unglamorous, symptoms of morning (noon and night) sickness.   However she soldiered  on  bravely.    The morning sickness finally, almost magically, abated around  week 15.   She then contended with heartburn and spooky dreams !! 

Into the second trimester both Rachel and Tony felt the baby move and kick.   We had the 20 week ultrasound scan in early March expecting to find out the sex of our baby.   But the baby was shown to be particularly active - demonstrating some impressive yoga-like positions.    This meant the nurse could not determine the sex.   So this was a surprise for us when  the  delivery happened.

The third trimester simply flew by.   Rachel finished work  on the 6th of July, and was soon in  full  nesting  mode.  The  NCT (National Childbirth Trust) ante-natal classes ended and it wasn't long before people in the group began pushing out their babies.

The video below is from the 12 week scan.   When I  get some time I'll put some video of Sophie's first few days on here.

Labour began on Friday with some irregular contractions around 6pm.   At that stage it was difficult to say if this was the real thing or not.   We stayed at home and tried to relax while we timed the length and interval of the contractions.

On Saturday the contractions continued but were still irregular.   By the afternoon they were becoming much stronger.   At 6pm we rang the hospital as contractions were now 2 to    4 minutes apart and lasting close to a minute.   They advised us to come in.

We arrived at Wexham Park Hospital at 6:45pm.   They seemed concerned Rachel had not felt the baby move for some time - and placed a baby monitor on her.   This  quickly  reassured us all was well.   At 7:50pm Rachel was examined and pronounced to be in labour, 4cm dilated and admitted to the delivery room.  

We had planned to use the birthing pool, but it seemed the contractions were not regular enough to allow this.   Rachel was feeling too nauseous to use the gas and by 10pm the pain had become intense and Rachel asked for an epidural.      This  coincided  with  midwife Pauline  coming  on duty - who we both immediately felt comfortable with.   The epidural was brilliant and Rachel could relax and concentrate on what was to come.

At midnight Pauline announced that Rachel was fully dilated and asked her to begin pushing in time with the contractions.   The contractions were still irregular but Rachel proved herself a good pusher.    At 1:52AM on Sunay xxth xxxx out popped Sophie.   We gazed at wonder at this beautiful creature plopped on Rachel's chest.   She weighted in  at 3.34kg (7lbs 6 ozs).

We moved to the maternity ward as the clock moved towards 5AM and the sky began to show signs of sunrise.

From concentrating so much on the labour we were  suddenly parents and having to learn a bunch of new skills.   From nappy changing and bathing the baby through to feeding and interpreting her cries it  was  all  new  -  in  fact  neither  of  us  had  even held  a  newborn    before!

Luckily the nurses at Wexham were fab  and we left ready  to  face the world and life as a new family.   We had two weeks together to start figuring it out before Rachel's    Mum came over from NZ to help us with Sophie and support Rachel - which she did so brilliantly  we wished  she  could  have  stayed  6  months  instead  of  6 weeks.  

Being parents is awesome, a lifetime  responsibility and sometimes very 'challenging', but just amazing to watch our little girl  grab something for the first time or shake a rattle or try to shove anything and everything into her little mouth.   Each little chuckle is a delight and it's silly how little things she does are so endearing.   We are enjoying it so much we might even  try  to do it again sometime!!