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Blurb: Family is where life begins.
And what better time to spend with your family than Christmas week?
Ashley and Giacomo go to Upper Swainswick, a postcard village ten minutes’ drive from Bath, to stay with Ashley’s mum and stepdad. It’s their last visit before the arrival of their first child.
But babies have a habit of being unpredictable.
So when Ashley goes into labour on Christmas Eve, three weeks ahead of schedule, it takes everyone by surprise.
She’s not ready! Her perfect Birth Plan is packed away in her hospital bag two hundred miles away, she has no going home outfit, and she has a live event planned for New Year’s Eve for her YouTube channel, The Sinking Chef. People have been signing up for it for weeks. She can’t possibly disappoint them on the last day of the year. What is she to do?
The tinsel gets even more tangled when Giacomo’s parents decide to fly from Italy to meet their first grandchild. Hotels are fully booked, so everyone has to stay under the same roof.
Would eleven people in the house, not counting the baby, turn out to be simply too much for Ashley?
Author bio: Sylvia Ashby is fond of the written word: books, blog posts, recipes, even an explanation to the HM Revenue & Customs as to why she thinks skirts should be exempt from VAT – she’s written it all!
She likes travelling and has lived all over Europe – London, Brussels, Amsterdam and Sofia, Bulgaria. Currently, she lives in Leuven, Belgium with her husband, daughter, son and a sparrow called Jack, who comes occasionally to peck the seeds she leaves for him on top of the garden shed.
Website: http://www.sylvia-ashby.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bysylvia_a
Excerpt
“Another contraction hits me and my belly gets really tight and uncomfortable. I brace myself to endure it.
‘Darling!’ Mum bursts into the room and swoops in on me like a Kitchen Aid on whipping egg whites. ‘What’s going on? Giacomo tells me you’re in labour.’
‘I think so,’ I say. Mum sits on the bed and thoughtfully pokes my tummy a few times. I really wish she wouldn’t.
‘The baby has definitely turned,’ she says. ‘All good. All good.’
Thing is, Mum has had three kids – me and my two half-brothers, so she thinks she’s an expert on all things baby and birth-related. I don’t think so, but we’ve already had loads of arguments on foods and napping, so I’ve kind of given up reasoning with her.
I count to ten, then pull down the top over my belly decisively.
‘We’d better get go—’
‘Have you timed the contractions?’ Mum turns towards Giacomo.
Typical Mum. She thinks that the only people that can be trusted to measure things accurately are men.
‘Five minutes and forty seconds apart,’ I force myself to tell her patiently. Inside I’m already screaming, “Get me to a hospital!”
‘Oh, we have plenty of time.’ She pats me on the hand and gets up from the bed. ‘I’ll get the coffee going.’
‘Mum! I need to go now. I don’t even know where the hospital is.’
‘Don’t worry, darling. The hospital is just on the other side of Bath. Thirty minutes tops. Michael and I will ride in the car with you. It’s going to be all right. Trust me.’
Giacomo and I exchange glances.
‘It’s fine, Samantha,’ Giacomo tells her. ‘Ashley and I can do this on our own.’
‘Don’t be silly.’ Mum tightens the belt of her silky bathrobe. ‘Of course we’ll come. It’s the least we can do.’
I squeeze my eyes tight. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.
‘Now, anyone for coffee?’ Mum turns from the door.
Just then another contraction grips me. It’s like someone trying to stretch and twist my pelvic bones all at the same time.
‘Ow. Ow. Ow! OW!’ I twist and turn in bed.
This one is bad. I didn’t even know it could hurt that much.
‘Aaaaaaagh!’ Is this even normal? It doesn’t feel normal. ‘Ungh.’
They did mention lots of pain relief methods at the antenatal classes, so I figured it was going to hurt some. But this much? This much is a lot!
Mum has gone very silent at the door.
‘On second thoughts, it might be better if we get going. We can always have coffee at the hospital.’
She rushes down the stairs. Result.”
Giveaway
3x eCopies of Prosecco Christmas
International