Clare says:
Closing the car door, I sat down and buckled my seatbelt.
As I glanced in the rear view mirror I could see my daughter Katie, 4, grinning excitedly back at me.
“Let’s go!” I laughed to my husband Martin, 33.
It was May 2010 and we were off on a week’s holiday to Butlins in Bognor Regis.
It was our annual summer holiday and we’d asked my sister-in-law Carol, 41, and her family to come with us.
I was especially looking forward to a nice relaxing break as I was eight months pregnant.
A couple of months after booking the holiday I’d discovered that I was expecting.
I was over the moon – but then I realised that the holiday clashed with my due date in June 2010.
But luckily we’d been able to bring the dates of the holiday forward by a month.
I reasoned that the holiday was an ideal opportunity to kick back and unwind before the baby arrived.
Besides, I'd be in good company as Carol was eight months pregnant too, so I wouldn't be the only one on the lemonade!
Just to be on the safe side though, as well as packing holiday essentials like suntan cream and a swimming costume, I’d packed my hospital bag and birthing notes too.
After checking in to our chalet at Butlins we wasted no time getting stuck into the activities.
Katie had a whale of a time riding the carousel in the fairground and we all donned our cozzies and went for a dip in the swimming pool.
But on the third day of our holiday I woke up in the morning with tummy pains.
Thinking that I’d had a ‘show’ I called my midwife at my hospital back home for advice.
“Pop along to your nearest hospital to get it checked out,” she suggested.
So we drove to the nearby St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester.
I was kept in overnight but by the next day the tummy pains had stopped.
Phew, just a false alarm!
Relieved, I headed back to Butlins to get on with the rest of my summer holiday.
I didn’t want to waste any more time in hospital.
Watching the Redcoats performing in the main arena that night, I smiled as I thought of what everyone back home would have said if I’d given birth at Butlins.
The next day I called Carol and we arranged to spend the morning playing crazy golf with the kids.
But as we were teeing off I started to feel unwell.
“I really don’t feel right,” I said to Martin.
I knew that this was more than just indigestion from eating too much of Katie's candy floss.
Not wanting to take any risks, we decided to go back to the hospital to get it checked out.
A midwife did an internal examination and monitored my baby’s heartbeat.
“It looks like your hind waters have gone,” she exclaimed.
“You’re not going anywhere – the baby is on its way!”
Before you could say 'Hi-de-hi' I was whisked up to the delivery suite to be induced by an obstetrician.
Just an hour later I gave birth to baby Jack, who weighed a healthy five pounds and seven ounces.
Cradling him tenderly in my arms, I couldn’t believe that only a few hours ago I’d been at Butlins playing crazy golf.
"You were worth interupting my holiday for, weren't you?" I cooed.
We called all of our friends and family to tell them the good news.
As Jack had been a surprise, we weren’t at all prepared for his arrival.
So I sent Martin out to the supermarket armed with a big list of essentials like nappies and baby milk.
I was kept in hospital for another night to make sure that everything was ok as I had suffered from gestational diabetes during the pregnancy.
While I was in hospital, my mobile phone bleeped with a text message.
“Carol is on her way to hospital – something about the baby,” Martin had texted.
“You’re having a laugh!” I replied.
We were meant to be on our summer holiday but we were both in hospital giving birth!
I found out later that Carol was three centimetres dilated but wasn’t having any contractions so had gone back to Butlins.
After two nights in hospital I returned to the holiday park hoping for a relaxing end to our eventful holiday.
But I should have known that things wouldn’t be that simple.
Later that day Martin's phone bleeped with a text from Mark.
Carol's waters had broken while she was watching the Eastenders omnibus and she and Mark had rushed back to hospital!
That night, I stayed in looking after Jack while Martin took the other kids off to see Britain's Got Talent winner George Sampson.
Just before midnight I got a text from Carol saying, Baby Alfie, 6lb!
Typing back my congratulations, I just couldn’t believe how dramatic our holiday had been.
The next morning was the last day of our holiday and we packed up all of our belongings in our Vauxhall Zafira.
But there was twice the amount of stuff that there had been on the outbound journey and it took two people to shut the straining car boot.
Most people return home from holiday with a stick of rock or a couple of souvenirs - we were returning home with a couple of new babies!
Back home in Ringwood, Hampshire, we were kept busy with plenty of visitors wanting to see the new baby.
No-one could believe that I’d had my baby on holiday and when I told them about Carol having a baby too, everyone found it hilarious.
A couple of days later we met up with Carol and Mark and cracked open a bottle of bubbly to celebrate our new arrivals.
Friends and family have nicknamed the two babies the ‘Butlins Boys’.
It was a holiday that none of us will ever forget! I have a feeling that Butlins will become a regular holiday spot for all of us from now on...
Carol says:
When I heard Clare had given birth to Jack I couldn't believe it. When I called my mum Janet, 67, to tell her, the first thing she said was, 'Don't you be coming back with yours!'
My due date was 17 June as my older children - Luke, 19, Ben, 17, and Aimee, 12 - were a week late I wasn't too worried.
I was more shocked than anyone when my waters broke two weeks early. Perhaps there is something in the Butlins water!
Alfie is a little sweetie, and the whole thing has bought me and Clare much closer - after all, we have an unusual bond.
My only disappointment is missing my last night at the camp, so we've vowed to go back to make up for it. But I reckon as last nights go, mine was pretty special!