Summary: Did you ever wonder why Harry and Ginny only had three children? Birth is as safe as life gets. A story about the eventful birth of Lily Potter.

Warning: There will be description of childbirth in later chapters, but nothing too shocking in my opinion.

Disclaimer: Nope, I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 1

"Mummy!"

Ginny Potter opened her eyes. So much for an afternoon nap…

Slowly she pushed herself up in a sitting position on the couch. This took a considerable amount of effort, due to the fact that she was nine months pregnant.

"Mummy!"

Her son's cries started to sound impatient.

Fifteen minutes ago, five-year-old James Potter had been playing in the living room with his toy dragons so sweetly that Ginny couldn't resist the temptation of settling herself on the couch and letting her eyes close. She knew it wasn't likely to last for long, but she felt so exhausted that she savoured every minute of rest.

Mind you, she loved being pregnant. But being nine months pregnant with an energetic five-year-old and his three-year-old brother to look after was another matter.

As she hoisted herself up from the couch, she heard Albus starting to whine in his crib upstairs.

"Mummiieee!"

James called for her again, just as she reached the kitchen door.

Upon entering she saw him perched on a stool, standing on tiptoe and reaching for the mug of cocoa that he had refused to drink earlier that day. He was touching it with his fingertips, stretching himself even further as the stool overbalanced. As if in slow-motion he toppled over, grabbing the mug with him.

Ginny wasn't quick enough and could only watch as her son landed (thankfully) on his bum, covered from head to toe in cocoa.

It looked so comically that she couldn't help herself and burst out laughing.

James, as a reaction, burst out wailing.

It took quite a few minutes for Ginny to calm him down and get him upstairs to change clothes.

As she was lifting Albus from his crib, she heard the front door open.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" squealed both James and Albus, the former nearly launching himself headfirst from the stairs and the latter wiggling to get out of Ginny's arms.

"Where are my two favourite persons in the whole wide world?" Harry called, as he scooped James up from the stairs, then climbed to meet Albus and Ginny.

"Here, here, daddy!" the boys cried, both trying to yell loudest.

Harry set James down and put his arms around Ginny.

"I thought I was your favourite person in the whole wide world?"

Harry bent down to kiss her intensely, then whispered in her ear "You are. But don't tell these little monkeys or they'll get jealous."

A few hours later Harry was brushing his teeth, while Ginny was already in bed, trying to make herself as comfortable as possible. This took a construction of several strategically placed pillows, which positions Ginny had to adjust a couple of times.

Harry heard the shuffling of the pillows, punctuated by a deep sigh, and came out of the bathroom.

"You okay, love?"

"Hmph.." came a grunted reply.

"Bump giving you a hard time?"

"He keeps kicking." Ginny said grumpily.

Harry knelt at her side of the bed and put his head close to her gigantic stomach.

"Hey bump, this is your dad. You have to stop the kicking now, little one, because your mum is tired and needs to sleep."

"Better now?" he asked Ginny, who still wasn't looking too happy.

"It's not just the kicking, it's also that my back hurts and I need to pee every ten minutes and I can't move around as I'm the size of a freaking whale!" Ginny whined.

"I know, honey", said Harry, climbing in bed beside her. "Shall I rub you back?"

"I'm just done with being pregnant!"

Harry seemed to think about this for a moment.

"Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious! I am SO ready to have this baby and see my feet again!"

"Do you mean that you don't want to get pregnant again? That you don't want any more children after this one?"

"That was not what I meant to say…"

"But do you mean it?", Harry continued, "Because it's not that we… I would understand of course…. But we really never discussed…." he trailed of, still looking at Ginny very seriously.

Ginny took a moment to ponder this.

Did she want this pregnancy to be her last? Did she want to have no further children?

They never had discussed exactly how many children they wanted. Though they had always agreed that they wanted a large family. Maybe not as large as seven…. But was their family complete with three children?

Ginny tried to imagine what it would be like, if this baby was to be her last. No more morning sickness. No more backaches and swollen feet. No more hormones all over the place, no more swelling like a beach ball and no longer that aching, dragging, tiredness from the last month.

But also, no more little kicking feet inside her belly. No more looking at her expanding stomach and wondering who this little person inside could be. No more of Harry softly singing songs to her belly at night.

This baby would be the last one she'd breastfeed. The last one she would change nappies for. (Well, that was actually on the plus side…) Her last child to educate at home and the last to go to Hogwarts. This child would always be their youngest, the littlest brother or sister.

Ginny let out a sigh and put her hand on her stomach. A tiny foot nudged her hand.

No. She wasn't ready to give this up yet.

She looked up at Harry who was still staring intensely at her.

"I don't want this baby to be our last. I want to have more children. At least, as long as you…."

"I also want to have more children." Harry was looking relieved. "But it's not me who has to deal with the hardships of pregnancy, so…".

"Yes, well, it can be a bit tiresome now and then, but still. I want this baby to become a big brother eventually."

"You are convinced that it's going to be another boy, aren't you?" Harry was grinning.

"Believe me, Weasley-genes only produce male offspring."

"That's not true. Bill and Ron both have daughters. Besides, your father managed it in the end."

"Are you telling me now that you want to take after my parents and keep having children until we get a girl?" said Ginny mock-threatening him. "Because that's not the deal mister. More children after this one, all right, but I wasn't planning on seven."

They both chuckled and Harry put his arms around her belly.

"Would be nice, though, a girl?" he said. "Ron keeps telling me that having a daughter is the best thing in the world."

Ginny snorted: "Off course he would, so far he only has a daughter. Maybe he'll get to try having a son in a few months."

"I told him that having a son is the best thing in the whole universe. And having two is even better."

"You're not the only one who's hoping for a girl, though." Ginny said. "James was telling me this morning that he had decided that he wanted a little sister, because he already had a little brother. In his opinion one brother to share your toy dragon with is more than enough."

Harry put his head close to Ginny's belly again. "Well, we'll all just have to wait until you come out, won't we?"

"Yes, but would you mind not to keep us waiting too long." Ginny added to her belly. "Because mummy has to pee again."

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Love, Zimra.