23 May: Of a Narrative Denouement Worthy of Victorian Melodrama: or, ‘meet Luke Moore-Gilbert’

So here we are, folks, almost at the end of the line. In keeping with the traditional rules of narrative development, you will no doubt be expecting a suitable climax to bring the curtain down on Part 1 (and, we hope, there will only be one Part) of this blog.

I hope I can now provide this in the form of the news which I have been hinting at from time to time amongst the avalanche of events and developments since April 02. Anna is pregnant, and has been throughout this whole affair. Superstitious folk that we are, we didn’t want to tell everyone before the all-important 12-week scan, which took place this Tuesday 19 May and which has established that the little one is viable, healthy (as far as you can tell at this stage) – and a boy! We have provisionally named him Luke. Anna wants to add John in honour of her father; in which case, I’ve suggested, we should probably also add Matthew and Mark 🙂 Here is the first image of him, ghostly right hand waving hello:

You can easily imagine how much this has added to the drama which Anna and I have been going through / are continuing to go through, even if we haven’t been able to share the news until now. By an extraordinary twist of fate, Luke was conceived very shortly before the testicle attack which set off the whole sorry medical chain of events described in the previous 40-odd posts. Consequently, we’ve had to face / continue to face some terrible and emotionally taxing eventualities, including: that I wouldn’t / won’t live to see Luke; that I would / will be so sick again by the time he arrives that Anna will have not just new-born baby to contend with, but her partner on his last legs etc etc.

Such possibilities have been / remain neither palatable nor easy for us. However, in facing this additional and perhaps most difficult challenge, Anna has again proved a rock; not only in constantly reiterating her confidence that I will live to see Maddy’s graduation – by which time Luke will be eighteen or so – but in managing to stay composed and optimistic despite the huge extra stress which being pregnant has added to her already overflowing cup. So all the times I’ve mentioned how tired Anna seemed or was getting, it needs to be (retrospectively) borne in mind that pregnancy has been probably the major contributing factor. I hope you’ll join me in toasting an absolute star and agree that I am a very lucky man to have found such a wife…

Needless to say, we are both absolutely delighted by the prospect of Luke’s arrival in late November. It gives me another very compelling motivation to beat this wretched thing and provides another unquenchable source of optimism for the future. I am sure you will understand why we have felt unable to share this, perhaps the most exceptional, aspect of our common struggle until now; and we hope that you will join us in celebrating the perfect end to a narrative of trial and tribulation which has been so many long weeks in the making.

Here’s to Luke Moore-Gilbert!