HOW THATCHAM MUM-TO-BE WROTE HIT CHILDREN’S BOOK DURING LABOUR

Gas and air, birthing balls and epidurals are words that might usually spring to mind when thinking about the labour ward.

But one mum-to-be used her four days in hospital in between contractions and deep breathing to pen a children’s book – which has proved so popular that during its first week of release fans have cleared the shelves at Amazon.

Jo Harte, 32, and her husband Ben, from Thatcham, are thrilled at the positive response to their debut book released this month.

The couple wrote it together at Royal Berkshire Hospital as they waited on the arrival of their now three-year-old daughter Isabella — who, fittingly, is one of the book’s central characters.

The husband-and-wife team are both teachers and used their inspiration from the classroom to write their book, entitled ‘Do You Know The Colours of The Rainbow?’.

‘We spent much of our writing time on a hospital bed’

“Isabella was due on September 4, but still hadn’t arrived by the 16th so Jo had to be induced,” Ben added.

“The labour took four days and we had plenty of time to spare, so decided to put our plan of writing a book into action.

“We have both aspired to write children’s stories to read to our children at school or indeed home. I especially wanted something with a truly personal meaning, hence including the name Isabella in the story.

“We did not know the gender of our child until the birth, so we also included Harry which would have been the name had she been a boy.”

Ben said: “Jo is a really keen bird watcher, and has tried to encourage Isabella to be passionate about the birds around her. Every time she sees ‘Marvin’ the magpie in the garden she says: ‘You’re in my book’.”

Jo is currently taking a break from the classroom to qualify as a teacher of the deaf, but will be joining a secondary school in Wokingham in September.

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