The Surrogate

Running late (like her father!)

Thursday July 28th, Switzerland.

Seb had left home yesterday evening full of trepidation. He's chosen to fly to Hungary as late as possible for the last race before the summer break and had kissed Holly goodbye with a lot weighing heavily on his mind.

Imogen is still missing and there's been no sightings of her nor any new information on where she could possibly be.

Baby Emilia is still yet to show herself and seems far too happy in Holly's tummy. She's been busy wriggling around and pushing hands, feet, elbows and sometimes her little behind against her mother's belly, giving Seb a delightful display of her limbs sticking up and protruding against Holly's skin, causing large bumps to appear and her whole belly sometimes seeming to move from side to side.

And then there's been the not so small matter of his retirement announcement. Today is the day when it's officially made public.

Holly had stood and watched while he'd recorded his announcement yesterday both in English and in German. He'd found it quite hard to do, having to stop a few times and start again as he'd got emotional. This morning it still feels surreal, like she can't quite believe that she'd been there when Sebastian Vettel had prepared to tell the world that he was leaving Formula One at the end of this season.

There's been rumours for months, only fuelled further as the rumours of his impending fatherhood gained more momentum.

Aston Martin and it's team principal, Mike had tried to quash the rumours by publicly saying how they wanted to Seb to stay and in reality they did want him to stay and had made a final push to tempt him into staying on for at least one more season in Austria but a difficult weekend had only cemented Seb's decision. Despite nearly changing his mind some weeks ago and needing more time to think it over, he was leaving Formula One behind at the end of the season. He had other priorities now and wanted to focus on being a father. He wasn't bringing Emilia into the world to have someone else bringing her up while he continues to race, he doesn't want to feel like a part time dad who's too busy to spend time with his kids and keeps having to frequently say goodbye every race week.

He knows he's sacrificing some of the early months of her life to finish his career, he's decided that he's not prepared to sacrifice any more.

Now there's less than an hour to go before Seb's retirement is officially announced. He's already set off a literal bomb of speculation and excitement by starting his own Instagram account and it's from there that his news will break.

Right now Holly knows he'll be breaking the news to his team, he's been wanting to make sure that they know before they hear it from anyone else. While she's keen to speak to him to find out how it went, she's got something more pressing on her mind, something a little more urgent.

Last night, no more than two hours since Seb had left for Hungary, she'd had a 'show' - when the plug of mucus comes away from the cervix. It means that labour is imminent and for Holly, it means that baby Emilia might well have chosen this weekend to make her entrance into the world.

Holly's yet to tell Seb; he needs to know so that he can be as prepared as possible to return home at what could be short notice but at the same time she doesn't want to worry him. She'll feel bad if he flies home, misses valuable time in the car or even the race and active labour doesn't even start. Though, where she'd first thought that labour could still be days away, the tightenings she's been experiencing this morning are suggesting that it might happen sooner than she thinks.

She's torn, telling Seb is important; it's vital because he doesn't want to miss the birth of his much wanted first daughter but she also doesn't want him rushing home for nothing.