Liddy is a child of the island. Jossie was four, nearing five, & the twins were just one when we moved onto the island. As the truck that had towed our 25 foot caravan over headed down the red dirt road in a cloud of dust the drought broke. All our worldly possessions were stacked to the roof of that van. We climbed over them to wiggle into bed that night with the rain thundering down. Thank goodness we never had a fire because we'd never have got out!

Our electricity pole wasn't up, despite all the promises. We had no running water, no electricity & the boys all promptly got diahorrea. The rain cascaded down in true monsoon fashion.

Dearest is a brickie by trade & began building our house while I taught our boys the subtleties of NOT living in suburbia: Shrieking curlews do not require you to climb your father like a monkey up a pole; Monitor lizards are bigger than you are, leave them alone; Snakes are not for playing with. To add to the chaos we acquired a damaltion puppy & then God decided it was time the girl I'd requested should make her appearance. No~one else believed I was carrying a girl. Dearest's family runs heavily to boys but I was convinced this one was the requested girl & we agreed to name her for her maternal grandmother.

Now I am a 5'5 , 7 stone lightweight ~ except when pregnant. Pregnant I blossom like a galleon carrying all her sails in a following wind. Carrying the twins I came close to doubling my usual weight so believe me when I say pregnancy makes me uncomfortable, irritable, clumsy & absolutely exhausted. Added to my list of usual complaints our water supply got contaminated & I found I had gardia. All treatments crossed the placenta & caused complications so I refused treatment. Instead I accepted something for the vomiting & treated everything else with over ripe tomatoes & white bread.

Given the slothful nature of this baby it is hard to believe what a hyperactive child she became. I was always poking her to make sure she was still alive but some things never change. Making decisions has never come easy for Liddy & she was chronically incapable of making up her mind whether she was on her way or not. I spent a week with contractions that began each evening on our afternoon walk at twenty minutes apart & dropped consistently until they were 10 minutes apart when they would just stop. My mother, who had come down to help, was getting frazzled. I was merely irate at all the fussing. Everyone was very conscious we would have to call out a boat once it was time. Liddy was in no hurry.

The last evening Liddy performed as she had every night for a week. At 10pm, with contractions at zilch yet again I went to bed, my mother hovering anxiously & Dearest still convinced I was in labour. He was right. I went to sleep but woke abruptly as my waters broke & all bedlam broke loose! I was insisting I needed a shower before going anywhere, Dearest insisted he wasn't waiting on me showering convinced once I was in warm water I'd never get out & my mother insisting Dearest get me off the island pronto! Even so the boat beat us to the jetty & the driver got us to the mainland in record time. They don't like delivering babies at sea either.

Once at the hospital I headed straight for the shower & I only got out to deliver my baby. Liddy was fast & effecient. I passed her to her father & headed back to the shower. He sat & rocked her, an event that has gone down in posterity as it is the only time in her fist 3 years that Liddy didn't scream blue murder any time her father came near her!

Dearest left in time to catch the first boat back to the island but he had had plenty of time to think how best to break the news to an expectant grandmother & three excited little boys.

'Well.' said dearest managing to look gloomy, 'James is a perfectly good name...' My mother hid dissappointment. 'But it doesn't really suit our Liddy Rose.' He has a wicked sense of humour. Luckily for him my mother has a forgiving nature!