Anastasia’s pregnancy diary - weeks 32-34

The next two hours seemed like twenty; especially, after we started to hear noises from the labour room next door. They started off as small moans, almost child-like. Within thirty minutes, the moans turned to groans, lasting longer and increasing in volume. Then they became more frequent, and began to sound like an injured animal, terrified and caught in a trap. It was the strangest feeling to hear someone giving birth – her moans sounded so personal and intimate, we felt guilty for being able to hear, as if we were overhearing a couple making love. Sometimes Nick and I resorted to nervous laughter, when she would come out with a really ear-wrenching groan. I cannot describe how unnerving this was. My heart went out to this woman, who was in labour on a fast-moving pain-train, with no turning back. It scared the hell out of me.

The sound of the doctor knocking on the door was a welcome one. She pronounced my liver test to be normal, and said it was very unlikely that there was a real problem, apart from the annoying itch. We made an appointment for a week later, to get the results of the additional blood tests, and they sent us on our way. I never did get to hear the one noise I was hoping to…the first cry of the baby struggling to be born next door. Can’t get those moans out of my head. And I still itch like crazy.

See Josa's pregnancy diary for weeks 32-34.