August 2003

I attempt to cast a shadow over the entire southern coast of Spain!

Well, well, well - I've got a baby - how did that happen?! But more of that later. Jascha and I have spent most of the past four months eating out as much as possible, cramming in as many fancy restaurants as we could before parenthood struck! We also snuck in another quick holiday in June and went to Spain for five days, where I donned a bikini and frightened the other hotel guests half to death with my gigantic belly!

A Friend of the Family was finally published on July 7th and I celebrated by going to John Frieda to have my highlights done, at vast expense! (I justified this with the fact that I haven't been to a hairdresser in three years as I usually cut and colour my own hair). Then I met my lovely fellow author Jenny Colgan for a truly extravagant lunch at Mirabelle (caviar was involved - and on a Monday, too!) and that evening Penguin took a very large me and (a normal-sized ) Jascha out for dinner to Nobu to celebrate. And then all the publication magic kicked in. I love the anticipation waiting for reviews to appear and then the pensive wait on a Wednesday afternoon when the new bestseller charts are released. Even though my track record is pretty convincing these days, I can still never quite believe that I'm going to get away with it again and get a good reception. But thankfully a Friend of the Family didn't let me (or anyone else) down and got another batch of fantastic reviews and went into the Hardback Fiction charts at number 5! The following week it went down to number 6 but then it bounced back up to number four for three weeks. We couldn't have hoped for anything more.

Just before publication I'd been for my 34 week scan and found out that my little girl was in the breech position. As she was already quite big at this stage it was suggested that she was unlikely to be able to turn, even if she wanted to so the chances were I'd be booked in for a Caesarean some time before my due date. This was confirmed on 23rd July and I was booked in to have my baby on 29th July. Now some people might think that knowing that I wouldn't have to go through labour and childbirth would be something of a relief, and call me a weirdo, but I was truly truly heartbroken by the prospect of such a clinical delivery and spent the last week of my pregnancy crying every day for the

Me and Bill Turnbull at Books etc. in the O2 Centre - what a love he is...

loss of my natural childbirth dreams!

My last professional duty before the big day was an interview by the BBC with Bill Turnbull. They kindly came to me as I was a little large to be transported across town at this point, and interviewed me in my local bookshop! Bill Turnbull was absolutely delightful - here we are after the interview - and no, that's not a beach ball stuck up my jumper, it's a baby!

First Hello.

And then suddenly, after nine long and wonderful months, it was time to meet my baby. It was very peculiar going to bed the previous night, knowing that when I woke up the next morning I'd be just a couple of hours away from being a mother! The caesarean itself was pretty grim I won't deny it, and why anyone ever coined the phrase 'too posh to push' I really have no idea. It is far from posh. But the moment Amelie was pulled out of me and shown to me was every bit as magical as I'm sure it is following a normal birth.

De-gunking

For some reason I'd convinced myself that she was going to be a big, ugly bruiser of a baby with an enormous head and so when I saw how tiny and pretty she was I was completely overwhelmed and just kept saying oh my god she's so lovely she's so lovely, over and over, to the point of tedium! My overpowering sensation as I looked at her was that she was exactly the baby I'd always wanted, but I presume that's what all mothers think when they meet their babies!

Spot the soppy dad.

She's nearly four weeks old now and we're still far from being in a routine, but she's such a good girl that it really doesn't matter. She sleeps most of the night and enough of the day for me to get at least a few things done and we're thoroughly enjoying every second with her. She really is the best baby imaginable and we both feel completely blessed.

Home at last.

Thanks for all your messages in my guestbook and I'll be back soon with another update just as soon as I've got something to report.

Remember those glamorous, skinny girls on the speedboat in April's entry? Yup, that's us ... what a difference nine months make.

Love to everyone,

Lisa xxx

Previous updates:
April 2003
September 2002
April 2002
November 2001
September 2001
July 2001
April 2001
September 2000

Amelie looking ridiculously cute at two and half weeks, all dressed up for her first wedding.