Two months into her pregnancy Effie's morning sickness started and she didn't complain about it all even though it was terrible.

She discovered that she wasn't supposed to drink coffee which was not too much of a difficulty for her because the taste of it made her feel much worse. She developed a fondness for peppermint tea which left a pleasant scent in the kitchen whenever she made it, apparently wasn't going to hurt the baby in small doses, and helped to dull the nausea.

The book that Annie had sent her said she was supposed to feel less emotionally vulnerable. Effie kept insisting this was true because she was eager to be adhering to what the book thought she should be doing and feeling but the day that she cried when she saw 'a delightful hedgehog' in the garden disproved that. All of the others hadn't believed her about it anyway, Effie was hardly famous for being emotionally steady.

Haymitch started talking to the baby when he thought she was asleep and she managed never to let on that she knew this was something he did. He called the baby Amelia as though trying to coax it into being what he wanted.

Three months into her pregnancy Effie felt much better. She started exercising and Haymitch started clearing out what was to be the nursery. He had suggested they just used the guest room she took over as her workshop when she arrived as it would be much easier, but she had started crying at the thought of being displaced and he had tried not to laugh while he agreed to just clear out the other room. She offered to help but he wouldn't let her, he was much more worried about her than she was even if he tried not to let on that he was.

Four months into her pregnancy Effie discovered that she hated hands on her stomach, even her own, and cursed that she had another five months of it to endure. Katniss noticed she hated it and stopped but neither of the others did. Effie didn't want to make them feel bad by complaining, and she resolved to just deal with it for the rest of this pregnancy, then joke about it once the baby was born and nobody could get upset with her, and then at least they would know not to do it if she had another one. The only time she didn't mind it was at night when Haymitch would rest his hands there while they slept, as though to protect the baby. That was actually comforting and didn't make her squirm.

"The baby's not even kicking yet!" she had ranted in Katniss's kitchen and as if on cue the baby had kicked for the first time and she had screamed aloud she was so surprised by this.

Annie came to visit and assured Effie that she had hated it too and Effie had been so pleased that it wasn't just her being a bad person that she had started crying on the spot, which didn't seem to faze Annie at all.

Five months into her pregnancy Effie finally started showing, much later than the book had said she would, and it was the first time she had been absolutely delighted that the book was wrong about something. She had insisted on going to the Capitol, accompanied by Annie and Haymitch, to get some decent maternity wear as well as furniture for the nursery and clothes for the baby. They got absolutely everything they could need because even Effie didn't want the hassle of another trip before the baby was born.

The trip gave Effie the chance to go to the doctors too. The baby was developing well. It had a strong heartbeat.

It was a girl.

Six months into her pregnancy Effie was still relatively small, and she knew the baby was going to be a lot like her because she thought it was very polite of it not to make her too massive. Haymitch told her that it wasn't the baby's choice how big she got, but she ignored him.

Katniss did not tell Peeta gently that she didn't want children; rather she screamed it at him one day when he said 'that will be us soon' for the millionth time while looking at Haymitch and Effie. Peeta had stayed with them for a few nights, the rows they had were worse than any Haymitch and Effie had ever engaged in, and Effie was worried that this might do irreparable damage to their relationship. Peeta confided in her that he wasn't upset about it, not at all really, but he wished she had told him sooner and in a different way. Effie understood. She held Katniss while she cried, and Effie thought that finally her excessive emotions might be settling down because she managed to be resilient for the both of them. Peeta went back after a week and a much calmer discussion and Effie could finally breathe again.

Seven months into her pregnancy Effie watched while Haymitch and Katniss painted her nursery. Peeta was supposed to help, but he mostly just shouted to them from the ground about colour schemes. Katniss got so annoyed with him that she painted a line down his face that didn't properly wash off for four days.

Effie had vivid nightmares about the baby, usually involving losing it in the woods or it drowning. She had similar dreams about herself when she was a child, always terrified of being lost or being drowned more than anything else. Haymitch said it was probably natural for her to worry about the same things when it came to the baby. Whenever she had them she woke him up like he had made her promise to and described them in detail. It helped.

Annie described breast feeding in detail to her over the phone and Effie was so horrified that she decided then and there she would be bottle feeding the baby. Nobody in the Capitol really breastfed anyway, she told herself, determined not to feel guilty as she researched the various pros and cons of it in the pile of books she had accumulated that was only growing, but nothing swayed her. It was the one decision she wouldn't discuss with anyone other than Haymitch, and Haymitch, who had worried about everything constantly, was over joyed he would be able to feed his daughter when she was born, and his support was all she really cared about. She hadn't needed to describe in detail to him everything Annie told her, but she did anyway, and he had been as horrified as she was.

"There's even pictures in here!" Effie had exclaimed, showing him the page in the book she had been reading and his eyes said it all.

The baby kicked all the time and Effie thought she might not be so polite after all.

Eight months into her pregnancy Effie could no longer sit or lie comfortably at all, and she hated it. Her ankles swelled at the end of each day and nothing helped. It was the first time she had just wanted it to be over. She tried not to complain too much but it was terrible and everyone understood that sometimes she couldn't just keep it to herself.

Nine months into her pregnancy Effie was delighted to see Annie again, who had come with Katniss's mother who would be delivering the baby. Effie was just impatient to get the baby born so she could lie down again.

"You've hardly gained any weight, Effie!" Annie had assured her, and Effie pretended that she wasn't still vain enough to be delighted to hear that.

Amelia was born exactly on her due date, 23rd July.