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Debbie Leigh: Me and my bump...the 'total stars' of Glastonbury
So, I have a confession to make.
When I shared my Glastonbury packing list with you the other week there was one important little thing I was taking that I neglected to mention – a baby.
One that's now around 12 weeks away from popping into the world.
That was a major reason I wanted to make the experience as easy and pleasant as possible.
And although I later heard that most pregnant Glastonbury campers opted for camper vans over tents, I was more than happy with our retro tent.
It's so tall you can stand up in it and we'd borrowed camp beds, so I figured this was the height of luxury in camping circles.
In fact, as I soon discovered, your home from home can be as spacious and luxurious as you like but if you've not swathed yourself in an insulating layer of drunkenness before you retire for the evening, it's going to be a long, cold night. Or should I say, three long, cold nights.
Still, that was the only downside.
The best bit, aside from imagining one day telling the little one about its first ever Glastonbury, was the excitable response from festivalgoers whenever they found out the big news.
Most reacted as if they'd won a magnum of champers or been told they had been picked to perform with Kylie and the Scissor Sisters. The feel-good factor was amazing.
And forget campaigning for world peace or animal rights to gain universal respect, once people found out I was "up the duff" as I overheard Mr N charmingly describe it to a fellow Plan B fan, I was promoted to "hero," "legend," "total star" – and often to all three.
Maybe some of that awe was inspired by the fact that Glastonbury is famed for being home to some of the world's most unpleasant toilets and pregnant women really do need to go more than most.
I didn't manage to find myself a "shepee" but thankfully our VIP tickets meant access to civilised loos, with flushes, sinks, loo roll, running water, the works.
Through careful (and determined) planning I managed to use these oases of humanity ALL weekend, and completely avoid the infamous stinking pits of hell which assault your nostrils before they're even in sight.
Incidentally, superhot model Daisy Lowe was also rumoured to be camping in our VIP campsite – possibly with Doctor Who Matt Smith – but sadly these were two celebs we didn't spot on our celebtastic weekend
We did, however, manage to catch up with two "old friends" who we met in Ibiza last summer – boho stunners Sienna Miller and Jade Jagger.
OK, so that's a slight exaggeration. We DID meet them both on the White Isle last year and we DID see them at Glasto – but it was only Mr N who got to chat to Sienna.
I believe I was stuck in a toilet queue at the time (ever the glamour-puss).
For the impressive list of stars we spotted, see the bottom of the page.
I've never seen so many in one place, so close-up. It was like a mini celeb zoo and I seriously had to hold in my squeals of excitement.
The thing is, when you're "up the spout" as Mr N might say, your experience of Glastonbury is different to most people's but it can be just as good, if not better.
Like most festivalgoers, I've seen more acts on TV since we got home than when we were there and like many others, regretted a few choices – like opting for the Pet Shop Boys over Muse.
But for me there were no hangovers, no pressure to look ultra-skinny, no expectation to party til 5am and no guilt about scuttling off to bed straight after the headline act each night.
I might not have been able to get sozzled on cider but who cares?
I made a point of tucking into a huge slice of carrot cake before one performance, scoffed a chocolate pancake at midnight, devoured a 99 ice-cream while bopping along to Faithless and supped a hot chocolate in bed.
A friend pointed out "pregnancy is the ultimate trump card" – so I played it and got to sit in a chair for the England-Germany match instead of on the ultra prickly grass.
I even contemplated getting a plaster cast of my burgeoning belly made at the "radical midwives" tent – then decided it was a hippy trip too far, especially as these midwives are allegedly advocates of bonkers ideas like eating placentas.
Who knew what kind of craziness they might talk me into while I stood around waiting for the cast to set...
So I compromised by agreeing to a temporary "mum" tattoo to raise awareness of death in childbirth instead.
It's widely accepted that Glastonbury can be an endurance test at the best of times so it wouldn't be the first choice for a weekend away for every woman entering the realms of "heavily pregnant" So while I had a heart-warming, spine-tingling, toe-tapping belter of a time, I took extra pleasure in being one of very few of roughly 200,000 people tough enough to festival while preggers.
Yep, I thought I was pretty hardcore until I heard about first-time mum Victoria Iremonger (correct) who went into labour on site, got dispatched to hospital to have the baby, then returned for the weekend with her newborn son.
Still, it's not too late for me to trump her. After all, it's Leeds Festival next month and Bestival in September, so you never know – if Baby N comes early...
Celeb watch: My festival sightings
Sienna Miller
Kelly Osbourne
Emma Watson
Nick Grimshaw
Henry Holland
Alexa Chung
Alex Turner
Jade Jagger
Jaime Winston
Alica Dellal
Jake Shears
Maxi Jazz
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Weather for Leeds
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 0 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
