Royal Baby News: Everything You Need To Know About The Birth

Royal Baby News: Everything You Need To Know About The Birth
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After months of planning, speculation and worldwide Bump Watch, Kate's due date is finally here. The Duchess of Cambridge is planning a natural birth (modern Royal and all that), so Baby Cambridge could arrive at any time. While we wait for news from the Palace, here are all the important facts you need to know about the Royal baby, and his or her delivery...

1. Kate will – all going well – give birth at the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in Paddington. It is the same hospital where William and Harry were born.

2. A 24-hour 'normal delivery' at the Lindo wing costs a minimum of £4,965, and there are additional charges for more than one overnight stay.

3. The wing has a comprehensive wine list and choice of champers to wet the baby's head. Cheers!

4. If Kate goes into labour at her parents' home in Berkshire, the Royal Berkshire Hospital has been selected as a backup. But it's not half as fancy pants.

5. William will take the standard two week paternity leave from his job in the RAF, before heading back to the day job.

6. Wills has borrowed a helicopter in case the Duchess goes into labour while he is working near their home on Anglesey. It's currently parked in their garden (!), but Royal aides have confirmed the cost to rent and run the helicopter will be covered by the couple themselves.

7. William is expected to telephone the Queen on an encrypted spy phone to confirm the news that a new heir to the throne has arrived. He will share the baby's gender and weight, and will tell his grandmother the baby's name if it has been decided.

8. The Royal baby's birth will be formally announced by a notice placed on an easel in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace. It will be the same easel used to announce William's birth 31 years ago on June 21, 1982. It's going to need a good dust down.

9. As the easel outside the Palace is erected, an announcement from Clarence House is expected on Twitter. #royalbaby #lol

10. The first sign the baby has been born will be a Royal aide leaving the hospital holding the written announcement. He will travel with a police escort to Buckingham Palace where the easel will be placed on show.

11. William is expected to make a short announcement on the steps of the hospital following the birth. Kate and Wills will then leave hospital together with their baby when Kate is ready.

12. Kate's medical team includes the Queen's former gynecologist, Dr Marcus Setchell who delivered the Countess of Wessex's two children, and Alan Farthing, an obstetrician and gynecologist.

13. A 41-gun salute will then ring out in Hyde Park shortly after the baby's birth. BOOM!

14. Kate and Wills's new arrival will be officially known as Prince or Princess of Cambridge. It is the first time the title will be used.

15. The couple does not know the sex of their baby, and haven't chosen a name. This means there might be quite a wait before we know. William wasn't named for a week, and instead had the hospital tag 'baby Wales'. Cute!

16. Parking outside the Lindo Wing has been suspended for Kate and her Royal protection officers. This has gone down a storm, as you can imagine.

17. Alexandra is odds-on favourite for a girl.

18. George is a front-runner for a baby boy.

19. If Wills and Kate decide to choose a surname name for their baby, they can go for Mountbatten-Windsor, Wales or Cambridge. Or all three?!

20. Kate's sister Pippa and mum Carole are expected to be at the birth, or be the first visitors to the hospital to meet the new arrival if they don't make it in time.

21. All children born on the same day as the Royal baby will be given a free lucky silver penny to celebrate the date.

22. Kate's mum Carole had emergency midwife training at a British Airways centre in 1976, so if needs be, she can be on hand to help with the delivery. Comforting?!

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