Thanks all, much appreciated Here's the birth story for those who want to read it.
After my waters broke on Saturday afternoon we spent Sunday lounging around/going for walks etc. Contractions started coming at varying levels early Sunday evening, then I had a bath at about 1am which seemed to bring them on for real. Stuck on the TENS machine, phoned the birth centre and they said to come in.
Got to the birth centre at around 4am, contracting every 2-3 minutes; had examination and was 5cm dilated already, which was a nice surprise. The TENS machine was brilliant, really helped me out and I surprised myself with how well I managed to deal with the rising levels of pain just by breathing/making hippy ohmmmm sounds through each wave Got into the labour room, all very peaceful, sat and chatted with lovely midwife while my contractions got stronger. DP and I even got some rest - I managed to doze off between contractions and was generally feeling pretty good.
At about 8am, was examined again and was 8cm dilated so was told I could get in the pool. At this point things began to go a bit wrong. I started on the gas and air but it didn't seem to agree with me, just made me really spaced out, and being in the pool didn't help. With hindsight I was starting to get tired out by this stage so perhaps should have stayed active, but never mind. Contractions were REALLY strong by now and very painful, and I could tell the hard work was imminent, but despite all encouragement and exhortation the baby just wasn't quite in the right position. He had come down the birth canal but not quite made it into place, so I basically pushed and pushed for two hours against my body IYSWIM, growing more and more exhausted with no result. Eventually at around 1pm they had to transfer me to hospital, which tbh was fine by me as I had been telling them I was too tired, I couldn't do it, he wasn't going to come out etc. for ages. My arms and legs were numb and I couldn't really support myself too well, which made labouring actively quite difficult.
So they bundled me off in the ambulance, with DP having to follow in the car, and I think the bumpy ambulance ride just knocked J into position. Arrived at hospital at around 2pm, and THEN I felt that urge to push - I couldn't not have if I tried. DP arrived 15 minutes after me and saw it all happen
Had lovely tearful cuddles with DP and baby, then the midwife examined me and said I had some small tears that needed stitching, so I spent the next hour and a half being rummaged about by a doctor with extremely brisk fingers, while DP got to spend quality time with our new son. That extra hour and a half did not add to the experience.
So, all in all it was really okay; those few hours of fruitless pushing at the birth centre really felt like I was being tortured at the time, but in the grand scheme of things it wasn't so awful and I am so so proud of myself that I managed the whole thing with no other pain relief than TENS machine and gas and air. I even did the stitching with just gas and air despite the doctor wanting to take me to theatre and do it under spinal block, simply because after all that I was not going to round it off with major anaesthetic.
The other important thing is that at no time was Joseph under any kind of strain - he stayed totally calm and healthy throughout. Given some of the things that might have gone wrong, a few hours extra work really isn't all that bad (even if it did give me piles ).