Congrats son.  Only a degen like you could be going to DTD to play a monkey donkfest after a week like you have had !!  All the best.  Hope you get the nappies at dtd.  You are golden you will probably get the school fees for Eton at the same time!

Cheers Arb, stranger things have happened and you read about these golfers winning a week after their other halves have given birth as they are relaxed and in a good place so let's hope.....

[#5on that list is a common request from my gf]

Congrats Rich!

#5on that list is a common request from my gf

Was the birth of Max more of a "standard" thing with just going to the hospital when Petra went into labour and the procedure for this one developed since you have experience of the situation?

Only for you son 😂😂😂😂
So many other tap ins were available

With the other two they were also born at home and the only time we went to the hospital is the standard newborn checks they do a couple of days later or if you have any difficulties.  It is proven that the mums are more relaxed with a home birth as they are in their own environment, tear less and in our opinion you get more concentrated care as they are sat in your home not floating off to other patients etc.

Something your not telling us Fett?

see you in Kelly's Saturday morning gl

Unfortunately mate I won't be in Kelly on Saturday morning as this trip is an up Friday and back down in the same day so I can be home on Saturday and then back up hopefully Sunday. Have to see you Sunday instead

So this week also brought the massive change as we gave birth to our 3rd child Quinn Charles Blacklock who was born Friday afternoon at 6.36pm and I thought I would write about the experience from a "blokes perspective"

So we have been through all the emotions since we have conceived with finding out that we had a vanishing twin, a redundancy, the business venture and the usual stresses of day to day life but we are a pretty good team as a unit and very relaxed as a couple.

Both Max and Ivy were born at home with Max being born in our bedroom and Ivy in the lounge as Petra was low risk both times and this time was no different so we had planned to have our baby at home again but knowing that if something went wrong we were prepared to go to hospital and Petra invested a lot of time in looking at Hynobirthing which is a spiritual way of looking at birth and that they really take control and are confident of the process and use relaxation techniques to help with the birth.

Seeing your baby move is one of the most amazing experiences and wonders of pregnancy in my opinion and if you look at the middle bit of her bump you will clearly see him move an arm or leg which is incredible


At around 8pm on Thursday evening Petra started to feel the odd contraction start so we fitted the Tens machine to her back and sat and relaxed watching tv and as we were having another home birth just got ourselves ready.  We loved having home births and I hope if anyone having a baby in future who is low risk tries this as you are so much more comfortable in your own environment which is better for mum and baby and you get dedicated care with in our area (am sure it's the same elsewhere) one midwife coming when you have called in and once they class you as being established in labour a second midwife coming and they both stay with you until a couple of hours after the baby has been born when they just shut the door behind themselves and leave you to be as a family.

We went to bed at about 10pm and slept till 3.45am when her contractions woke her again so we went downstairs and had a drink and chatted about the day ahead and made a few calls to first of all our birth photographer as Petra wanted to experience life the other side of the camera this time and Angie was to be with us from mid labour through to an hour or so after birth and capture the moments you never get back with her knowing the boundaries of what should/should not be shot and give us photo's that cannot be replicated.

Petra also decided that she wanted her placenta encapsulated which means its placed in a tuppaware box and picked up the next day and they make you a fruit smoothie (this wont be on the juice menu at our place btw) as its beneficial to the mum and then they make a load of capsules that are to be taken daily over the first couple of weeks that again have health benefits to a new mum but you call them when you go into labour so they know to come within 24 hours of you giving birth.

We also called the hospital to let them know that Petra was in labour and they told us that there was no midwife who could come and see us so if we wanted to be seen we would have to go to hospital which was never going to happen (they can do this if short staffed) and a woman has the right to give birth wherever she wishes and they have to react so we said we would wait till the morning shift came on at 8am and call back then unless we went into established labour early and the next couple of hours were spent lighting some candles, getting the snacks ready for Petra, midwifes etc, a warm drink and away we go.

At 5.30 am on Friday 13th Max wakes and comes downstairs and we sit him down and explain that today he is likely to become a big brother again and ask him if he wants to stay with us or go to school, we actively encourage the kids at a young age to experience life and had built them up that if they wanted to be around as we birthed it was cool so never felt they shouldnt be with us but he chose to go to school albeit they were told we may take him out early if baby came during school time as Ivy finishes pre school at 12 so we didnt want him to feel left out.  6am comes and Ivy wakes to the news her baby brother is coming today which she is ecstatic about.

6.15am and the first midwife comes to check Petra over but feels its very early stages so says she will go and someone will be back later on.

Petra had done her own birth plan based upon her knowing what she wanted out of this birth (all being well) and this was it.  It's pretty full on but as I say she wanted to be in control!

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At 8am the midwife is long gone and Petra goes for a bath whilst I get the kids ready for school and have breakfast before we go on our walk to both school and preschool being careful not to mention it to the mum's on the way as they will message Petra and she wants to relax so when I get back from the school run at 9.15 we just sit around together having a drink till 11.30 just chatting about general life and business with some relaxation music on in the background and I reply to some work emails ensuring that she gets anything she needs with the occasional massage as her contractions are now coming every 6-8 minutes lasting 45 seconds at a time.

Here she is completely chilled in our lounge

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Even Bentley played his part

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11.50 comes and its the short walk to get Ivy from her school and Petra goes for a sleep and when she wakes at 1.15 we all have lunch together and as Friday was a great day with sun and a temperature in Essex of around 20 degrees we flit between the garden and house and as the contractions are increasing in intensity all the time Petra decides to call the photographer and we do a couple of quiz's together before Ivy and me walk to get Max from his school and we go home.

At 3.50pm a midwife reappears and this time Lorraine has a student midwife in tow but again doesnt thing Petra is in established labour and just sits with us for a bit using the doppler to check on the heartbeat of the baby

We need to keep the kids in their routine as much as possible so they have dinner with me at 5.15pm but as were finishing Petra's contractions are now closer together and stronger and the only examination she had showed her to be 8cm dilated so the second midwife is called and everyone decamps to the lounge with Max and Ivy sat playing their Ipads whilst Petra goes through the decibels.

The knock at the door at 6pm brought our own midwife Terri who had finished her shift and as she lives in our road popped in and the proper 2nd midwife who again had a student midwife with her so including Petra and myself there are now 10 people in this room for the birth which came pretty quickly as only 36 minutes later at 6.36pm our beautiful baby boy Quinn is born weighing in at a rather large 9lb 3oz and a full 2lb heavier than either of the other two and Petra had him skin to skin straight away.

Here he is meeting the kids 2 minutes later (crap quality photo of mine but will post more when we have approved the photographers ones) and a few minutes after this was taken Max took the responsibility for cutting the cord to his little brother which was incredible to watch and something that will live with him and bond him to his brother forever!

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With me

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5am Saturday morning when he finally learnt how to sleep

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His first bath last night

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Today

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Petra did an amazing job and got everything she wanted out of this birth and was completely positive the whole time and made it an unbelievable experience for everyone concerned with the midwifes even writing to us thanking us for being part of it.

I will post Angie's slideshow when it is put together as although it may be graphic in part it truly captures the moments that most people will never remember.

Now I could really do with a deep deep run at this weeks WPT as I need to purchase some nappies!

Hows your new venture going Rich?

So since my last update things have really moved on and we have been busy working on brand and premises whilst waiting for the change of use planning permission as we needed A3 usage which we should have had the determination date from the council on my birthday the 21st April but instead of getting the result I got a phone call to say that they had cocked up and as the property was located in a conservation area should have advertised it in a newspaper for 3 consecutive weeks but had forgot but unfortunately it had to go in before they could give the decision even though in the email it was saying they would say yes.

This is obviously pretty annoying as there is then a 1 week consultation period before we get the say so but in saying that it did me a favour as 8 weeks ago my designer had said that he had been meaning to ask me since we had been working together if I would sell him 10% so we agreed a deal and then he said his personal trainer wanted to meet me and we started off a process where on my second meeting with the PT and his GF they expressed an interest in buying 35% and I put together a deal for them but they had a row which clouded what they could do as a couple and he asked whether he could have 1 week to raise the cash elsewhere as she was the one with the ££ and as he had come through my designer I agreed but said I would keep the channels of communication open with her as she said her money would come in independently and a week later he was no further forward so I had a couple of meeting with her and she had a couple of days but in the meantime he was badgering her telling her that she shouldnt invest as he would feel bad as he wouldnt be part of it and as they are a bit on off her judgement was clouded but I couldnt wait so said I was going to do my own thing.

Which means I have pretty much raised some extra ££ to fill the gap left by the others and also had to cut back some of the spend we were making as keeping the pennies back to survive the first 6-12 months is key and all in all it now means subject to signing the lease in the next 14 days it is well over a 6 figure investment for us now and adds that extra pressure that hopefully we will thrive off.

So we should get the decision on Monday 23rd and hope to get the lease completed within a week with the build starting on or around the 1st June.

A few pages back there were a few photos of how the front looked with also a couple of videos of the layout etc and the other day this is how the inside was as the landlord has started the strip out (he has to hand it to us as a brick shell) when myself, Dwight the designer and Mark the builder (who we are currently trying to agree an equity deal as well with) visited to go through the proposed specs.

This is front to back view

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Proposed kitchen area with the wall to be about 1 metre from this stud work

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The view from the back towards the front

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Then I went back to reinspect it this week so this was Tuesday with the view from front to back showing the kitchen area (my proposed head chef is in the shorts) and the walkway that will go through to the toilets.

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The view toward the front

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and today after the wall which we hope to expose the brickwork further has now had the studwork removed so we can see the quality of the bricks and whether we can have a feature wall

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In theory there are a couple of niggles to sort out on the lease and then if all is good we will get the keys and start work in the first week of June with a 3-4 week build and then a couple of weeks of staff training, stress testing the premises and kitchen, promotion in the city which will start about 2 weeks into the build and then launch 1st or 2nd week of July.

I will post more photo's up as we go and the coming weeks are filled with the nitty gritty stuff like packaging, tables, chairs, recruitment, uniforms, menus etc.

Hey Rich if any extra becomes available I'd take it.

Good luck!

Thanks Kev, will obv let you know.

Durn, was deffo going 5% when I saw RMs were in

Too late.. gl man

😉 It was there for you

If any frees up you are first reserve my fellow RM

Sigh. Reserve pls mate

😒 Blimey as its a reunion I will open up 5 bud if you want it?

Defo sold out now though.

Go on then... For old times sake....

Rest

Oioi lets try to win you some tokens, for old times sake 😉

That's sold then so I think just Matt and David will need my deets so will send a PM later but if anyone else does please holla and thanks for the backing.

Team
Me 55
Doobs 10
BigDyl 10
Scotty77 5
RedSimon 5
Evil 5
Bettsy 5
Redbull 5

10 pls

Booked thanks David

5 left

5% please.

Booked thanks Simon

15 left

10% please mate

Booked thanks Dyl 😀

20% left

5% swap gone with Ryry
&
5% gone to Craigbetts

30% left

Are you at DTD this weekend sir

Lol, he would be even more of a hero if he could pull that off.

You should check out the staking board son

[my]

It's been a while good folk of Blonde.

I have been given a pass out for this Friday and Day2/3 if required to play the WPT Main Event at DTD with a buy in of £760.

I fully expect to fit well in this field which should be saturated with Rando Moron's, Italians and satellite qualifiers and whilst not having qualified for this event I fit the other two categories well being half Maltese  

Last year I managed to play 38 live events at various festivals ranging from £100 F/o up to my first ever EPT and cashed 15 times with quite a few deep runs (one local event cash unreported) with my Herbie found here http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=165320&_ga=1.19747960.1558977881.1463571165  which was my best yearly result and really felt on top of my game.

This year I have only played once due to planning a business which was at GPS Southend where we finished a few spots off the money losing with KK vs Ben Winsor's JJ in a cash defining pot but I am sure I will feel comfortable in this field and am firing just the one bullet Friday which should ensure I am on my A game.

I am looking to sell 40% at spot which is £304 which is only being sold on Blonde and means that

40% = £304
25% = £190
10% = £76
5% = £38

The reason I am selling is that I am starting a business that ties up pretty much all my net cash worth and some so, without selling it would be unlikely I could justify playing this event.

I will be playing Friday and be up there early and for this event am only looking at bank xfers with funds received prior to 1pm Friday please, so any questions please flame away.