The story so far: Josa Young has 2 children aged eleven and eight. She’s now 41 and 28 weeks into her third pregnancy

The ‘maturity’ factor

When Cherie Blair had her baby, there was a great deal in the press about the special attention she was getting, due to her age. Of course, she was using the NHS, as, in spite of her vast and, no doubt thoroughly deserved earnings, this is the ideologically correct thing to do. The same consideration has not been applied to me. Sometimes I wish I could afford to go private and get some lengthy and exclusive attention to allay my fears.

I very much doubt that her obstetrician was simply not available, as mine was this week, or that she was fobbed off with someone more junior. I insisted that my appointment was put forward to a date when I could see the Professor. They want to induce me early and I want to know why. My worry is that my first baby was 10 days late, my second nearly three weeks, and neither showed signs of what they call post maturity. It is obviously natural for me to have long pregnancies – in the US they take the length of your menstrual period into account when they calculate your due date. Here it is judged to be 28 days – mine is 34. If they induce, as they want to, at 38 weeks, the baby might actually be premature and all because there is a small possibility (as I mentioned earlier) of the placenta packing up late in pregnancy when you’re over 40.

There is a girl in my yoga class who had pre-eclampsia during her last pregnancy – an illness that can endanger both mother and baby. She had a Caesarean at 28 weeks and her baby is now a bonny, healthy two-year-old with no problems. There is a very good survival rate today for babies born at 28 weeks, but I am not ready to take that risk unless it’s necessary. I show no signs of any rise in blood pressure or swelling – in fact my wedding ring is looser than usual, as my extremities seem to grow skinny, while my middle section enlarges by the day.

Thanks goodness for yoga

According to books, the baby at this stage weighs about a kilo. My last baby was four kilos at birth. That means the baby puts on three-quarters of its weight in the next 12 weeks – an alarming prospect. No wonder my back creaks. Bad weather and floods meant my yoga teacher could not get to London this week. I miss her class dreadfully. When I hit a low patch, which is nearly always at the beginning of the week, I know that the slow stretches will set me up for the next seven days of work and childcare. Without it, I am not sure what I will do.

Some nights the lower back pain wakes me up, and I try not to lunge about too much, for fear of waking Thoby. He works so hard, no afternoon rests for expectant fathers. Daytime rests are becoming increasingly uncomfortable and I try to do without them, unless I am really weary. My heart seems to beat audibly and I find myself panting for breath. I sleep much better at night, in the darkness, with pillows propping up every protuberant bit of me. I have managed to reduce night trips to the lavatory to about once, around 3.30am.

Normal tights and even normal bikini knickers roll down under the bump, and give me a feeling of strangulation. I ventured out to Mothercare and Hennes and found a far better range of maternity tights than eight years ago. I now have a pair of comforting black cotton and Lycra and also more elegant sheers. I do not want to buy maternity knickers – I have some very cheap old ones with droopy elastic, which will have to do. It is such a short time – maternity clothes seem an extravagance. But I do have to confess that I went to Dorothy Perkins – just about the only place that acknowledges a need for glamour even at 12 stone – and bought a gold lace cocktail dress with deep fringe at the bottom. I felt guilty, but justified it by hoping for repeated outings at Christmas parties.

See Anastasia Brien's pregnancy diary for weeks 28-30.