Two weeks ago Laura told me a secret.

This is usually a horrible mistake because my tics make it very hard for me to keep things quiet. Laura’s secret was a happy one and much to our surprise I’ve been able to keep it under wraps.

This evening she sent me this text message:

‘Well done, you officially can keep a secret…unless you’ve accidentally told anyone since we last spoke. You are now off the hook. Feel free to tic away Laura’s Contraception Hotline or whatever delights you may have been suppressing.’

So congratulations to Laura – she’s expecting her second baby.

Her first child, Ruby, was born last year and I was less successful at keeping that a secret. This time I found the responsibility much less overwhelming. From the moment Laura told me, I’ve been trying to put it to the back of my mind so my tics don’t blurt it out. Even so, every so often I’ve found myself thinking about it and smiling.

There were a couple of times I came close to spilling the beans. Once I ticced to Poppy, “Laura has a baby.” She laughed and said, “That’s old news.” On another occasion Leftwing Idiot mentioned Laura and I said, “Laura has babies.” He said ‘What, multiple babies?’ Both times I changed the subject very quickly.

When she was pregnant with Ruby my tics came up with a whole a variety of names for her bump, most notably “Laura’s cum cake.” She was thrilled with that one.

Laura’s one of my closest friends and I’m really looking forward to meeting her new baby. I’ll keep you posted on her progress and on any bump-related tics that come along.