I loved all the movements and kicks. The hiccoughs (though it took me a while to realise what they were) and the fact that, late on you could actually see the shape of a foot when they pressed against the womb.

When my younger sister was 15 she got pregnant. She was so scared she didn't manage to tell anyone until it was too late to have an abortion. (No comments on that...as said above, it's not part of this discussion). My Mum and Dad were devastated though supportive, and my Mum was worried that it would ruin my sister's life, so she arranged for the baby to be adopted. The family never spoke of it again. More, I think, because of wanting to put the trauma of the time behind them than anything else. Later I did speak of it occasionally to my sister, who by then had two little boys.

Three years ago I had an e-mail from my sister (she lives in Australia, as do my parents) telling me that the baby (a boy) now aged 30, had got in touch with her. She was too scared to tell my parents, due to the fact of it never having been spoken of. In the end I told them. They were cool with it and pretty unemotional. My Dad, it turned out, had always said we should have kept him as he was family. Anyway, my sister and Murray met, found heaps in common and he got on great with her other two boys (who think it's hilarious!) He now has little twin boys himself and is in contact with the family. It's all like something out of a story.

Love Lynne