Looks like another girl.

[alison]

We are due another grandchild in September and had hoped for a boy as we have all girls. Seven of them so far and we have a boy who we love as much as our other grandchildren but is not biologically ours. Emotionally he is ours. He is 11 now and has always been our grandson since birth. We call him our grandson and he calls us grandma and grandpa. The only difference is his surname.
Anyway as this is our last grandchild by the looks of it, we had hoped for a boy to carry on the Horsfall name which has gone back many generations.
So far the babe hasn't let us in on the secret as each time Nikki has a scan the baby is turned away from the camera. The midwife has said that she is positive it is a girl by the heartbeat. It appears that girls have a faster heartbeat than boys. I never knew that. We have another few weeks to wait for the next scan but until then I will still only buy neutral clothes etc. but I can't wait to find out what it is.

[kaz]

Whatever the sex... many congratulations

[alison]

Thanks. I just love grandchildren and any children really. I work with children from the ages of 18months right up to 12years at church doing music and singing time and it is just fabulous.
Anyway can you believe this, after they went on about the baby being another girl she went for another visit to the midwife and told her that last night she dreampt she had a boy and also told her that her sister had been to a psycic before she had her last child and was told she would have a girl (which she did) and that the next child in the family would be a boy. So now we are confused because the midwife said the heartbeat is slower and you often dream the correct sex so is now inclined to say it is a boy. Roll on the 27th july for the next scan when maybe we can get a proper look. She is due on the 22nd September but is already the size of a thirtyfive week baby. She is only 29 weeks. I am surprised as she was so ill when she fell on that she lost a stone and a half so must have made up for that now.

[alison]

The scan was last week and again the baby refused to give up his or her secret. So now we will wait for the birth and have the kind of surprise I had with all of mine. I remember wanting a girl for my first baby and it being a boy. Then with the second I didn't care wether it was a boy or girl and it was another boy. For the third I really wanted a girl and again it was another boy. I had been so ill with the last one that they told me not to have any more as it would be too dangerous so I never got a girl. Now all my boys have had nothing but girls. Which in it's way has been wonderful as I have now got my girls in addition to my own boys. I am still guessing that this one will be a girl too.

[kaz]

Alison... I think you have the best of both worlds: People say that boys are far easier to bring up and that girls can be difficult, particularly during puberty... but as grand-parents you get to enjoy the girls without so much of the worry!

[alison]

I know what you mean. The only thing about the grandchildren is that Abigail, Rachel, and Imogen are typical i.e. they come for an hour or so and only on few occsions do they stay over for a day or so. On the other hand Bethany and Lucy practically live here full time. They have seen their parents only on two occasions in the last 5 weeks so they are really like another generation of my own children. We have a bedroom for them, pay for everything for them and clothe them whilst they are here. Kai and Kaitlin come very infrequently and Jasmine has only stayed over for a fortnight this holiday. The baby is due in a few weeks so I doubt we will see much of them when that happens. I have no idea what we are calling him or her. They can't make a choice over the name yet. Mark doesn't like any of the names Nikki likes and Nikki doesn't like any that Mark likes so it could be a babe with no name for a few weeks. I have never understood that. Mine all had names well early

[alison]

We have a lovely baby girl born on saturday evening. She weighed 6lb 15oz so not too big really, just right. They have called her Autumn Rose so that was a surprize as they didn't have any names before she was born. They decided immediately afterwards. She is the image of her older sister Jasmine. I can't wait to go and see her. It is a shame we don't have a boy but I am thrilled to have Autumn. At least we don't have to go out buying boys clothes, we have plenty of girls

[alison]

I went last friday up to Catterick to see the baby. It was the first time I have driven on my own there since I found out I had OSA as it is an hours journey and I could easily get tired on the A1/M. Anyway the weather was not so good, lots of rain but I managed fine.
The baby is beautiful as all babies are. She is so tiny and slept most of the time except for feeding. She is definitely the image of Jasmine.
I was going to return in the early afternoon but Mark said that Jasmine thought I was going to be there when she finished school. I told them that If I saw her then I would kidnap her for the weekend as she hasn't been down for over a month. Nikki said she could come so I went with Mark to wait for her at school. The weather by this point had really set in and the rain was pelting down. I hadn't taken a coat so Mark said "put this one on of Nikkis" (it was a Leeds Rhinos (rugby)) coat bright blue and yellow. As we reached Jasmine she looked at me then straight back to her dad asking him something obviously thinking I was Nikki (except she must be at least 8 inches taller) then she stopped as she suddenly realised it was me. She just turned back shouting GRANDMA and flung her arms round me and wouldn't let go. It was a lovely moment. I said to her she could come home with me if she wanted so she nodded and she came for the weekend. We had a lovely time.

[kaz]

Congratulations Alison... lucky you... collecting grand daughters