What not to do when 40 weeks pregnant!

Let's go back in time to Feb 2012. It was week 38 of my pregnancy and there was not any real sign of the baby arriving. I was just on maternity leave, feet up relaxing and glad to be away from work. An email was sent to residents in our block asking if anyone's flat was available for filming for half a day in the following weeks.

So I sent an email saying that I was happy to let the crew in and out of the building but didn't want to let my flat be used for filming due to the fact I could have my baby at any second.

Another email came around and it seemed my name had been put forward. The location manager came to look at my flat and liked the fact it was on the ground floor. So it looked like it was on. A half day of filming in the flat...

.....except when he talked to me it had now moved to two days which I thought was do able. Not a problem. The rest of the TV people came to peruse the flat and make notes about the shots. Seems like instead of using one room, they were planning to use them all.... hmmmm.

But they had been very clear to me that they would pack up the rooms, set them up for filming, unpack and put everything back into place!

So that was fine. The location manager agreed to put us into a hotel for the night. So all was looking good - a night out from the house and we would make some money.

The Friday before the week of the shot, I got a phone call. They told me their new plan. I would leave the house on Monday, they would empty the furniture on that day, Tuesday, set it up, Wednesday film, Thursday, undress the flat, Friday, I'm back in!!!

 I phoned up the location manager and said, I couldn't do it if it was going to take that long. My baby was due on the Sunday so I didn't want to be out of the house for the week after!

So he suggested we could be back in on the Thursday and we could stay in a local hotel for the rest of the time with money thrown in for food. There was a bit of fussing about it but when I thought about it, I'd have all my hospital stuff packed, my other half with me and I'd be in a nice warm hotel room. If I  did start going into labour. it would take a good day or more so we'd either be in a hospital or a warm hotel room.

So that's what we did. Monday, 40 +1 we left the house for a hotel in Battersea and spent three nights there. We watched crap on the telly and I got to photograph 3 murals for another project I work on.

When we got back , they were just finishing putting my belongings in place. A little bit of adjusting and you would never have guessed that the whole flat contents had disappeared out of the place for the day.

 I gave birth a week later.

The TV programme that was filmed has been aired last week and it's interesting to see the shots they did. This flat makes a great set!

They used my curtains!!

Sometimes strange features in the flat are useful.

The fireplace is a TV star!