POSITIVE birthing story - tell us about it

[whensmydayoff]

If you had a positive birth could you please tell us all about it, as much detail as you can be arsed typing!

No screaming, tearing, drugged up horror stories PLEEEEEEEEEASE, we get enough of that from everyone who hears you are pregnant. Even a shop assistant felt it necessary to fill me in on her 3rd degree tear !

I just think it would be nice to go into my first natural labour in 6 weeks time (c section last time so im a birth virgin) with my head full of positive possibilities.
Im sure lots of other first timers would love to hear them too. Thanks x

Ok first one was traumatic so was pooping myself second time, but it was ace .....contractions started at 00:30, went to the hospital at 02:00, at 02:30 was 3cm dilated, them at 03:30 was 10cm dilated, started pushing and having gas and air, and ds2 was born at 04:14, fabulous. He weighed 8lb 6oz, whereas ds1 weighed 9lb 3oz, so think ds1 paved the way for a quick birth for ds2

2 pretty good stories:

DD: Contractions started 4am on Thursday morning. Gradually built up over Thursday and into Friday very early morning and started getting more and more intense. By 8am on Friday morning was feeling really quite uncomfortable so leaned over my ball and watched Baz Lurhmann's Romeo and Juliet for a bit. Went and had a bath and saw a show so phoned the MW who said to come in.

Got into hospital to find I was 5cm dilated. Unfortunately, the hospitals were w bit short staffed so I was put on continuous monitoring and given gas and air. After a couple of hours it started to get really painful so I asked for an epidural. Anaethetist arrived and asked me to sit up to have the canula inserted. As I did so, he sounded a bit alarmed and said 'oh wow, I can see the baby's head. Do you mind if I stay for a minute and watch the delivery?' I started to push and DD was born 8 minutes later.

DS's birth was similar except no continuous monitoring and got into a pool when 5cm. Had to push almost immediately and DS was born 26 minutes after getting into the pool.

It does hurt but it feels the most amazing achievement to give birth and IME, holding the baby immediately afterwards and hugging DH counts as the best two moments of my life.

Stealth I had a lady called Julie (sur Ward?). She was mint! I loved my little bathroom, everytime I went in and came out there was someone there with anti-bac making sure it was extra clean.

I went down for the group brekkie after with all the new mums, it was fun. Was weird but my son didn't cry when he was born, calm as peace itself he was, and he cried when I was down having brekkie. And I got up and went to him, never heard him cry before that and I KNEW it was him.

Durham hospital is amazing. Such a good place. They have lots of lovely students too, who are always mega keen to get involved, help and hold hands and make tea. I escaped from the clutches of Sunderland early on in pregnancy.

Just to say, am loving this thread!

Keep them coming.

They are all brilliant stories, keep them coming!

Im so excited and wish I was 40 weeks instead of 34 - can't be bothered with this bit, waddling everywhere with dodgy hips.

Baby is back to back and wont move so I NEED positive as many of us do, thanks. x

3 great births, all at home. Not being smug at all - just feel v. lucky. 1st, 6hrs, no drugs, no tear, 2nd 3 hrs, no drugs and no tear, 3rd, 3 hrs, no drugs, no tear. Bath in my own bath, could eat what I wanted, dh there all the time, siblings to come in next morning and meet new babby, lovely midwives (2 for each birth) giving good care, unobtrusive (NHS). Amazed that our bodies can do that!
(added benefit of being able to tease squeemish friends 'oh yes, that futon where you are sitting is where xx was born!').

hi guys! good post, spodgemcbiscuit!! fab to hear good report from durham hospital i have just moved to area and will be giving birth there to!!!!! my first baby, nice to hear some positive stories. x

first labour - ok. nothing too terrible but a typical hospital birth, no stitches.

second labour - fantastic. had a home birth, started to labour at about 4am, but only twinges. at about 6.30 had a bath and took a couple of paracetamol, rang midwife at 8am, had DD at 9.40am, at home in my own bed, surrounded by lovely things and lovely people, no stitches, no pain relief. it was very relaxed and very lovely.

nomorebooze, I can't say good enough things about them. I went to the NHS AN classes too, thought they were quite good, even if you just go on the ward tour.

with my second, I had one contraction and my waters broke (at home)

probably had one more contraction

hospital called me in (when I spoke to them) as had fairly fast first labour

arrived at hospital, was getting a bit painful to walk, got onto bed, wouldn't let her do an internal - she left the room and I knelt up and with one push, ds came out

was very quick and easy - was barely there for 30 mins

even my first was quite positive really - had contractions at home, bit like bad period pain. Called the hospital and they told me to wait at home. I kept on my feet (this was key I think), had a quick bath then told dh even though they were far apart they were too painful.

Went in a few hours later and the hospital fully expected to send me home (as they were far apart!) to find I was already 8 cms dilated!

Was 10cm in about half an hour but dd took a bit of pushing out as she had a humungous head . Even then, I only had a graze to my fanjo (their mistake was not breaking my waters - dd was coming out in them with her huge heed, head midwife admitted they should have broken them then it would have been easier to push!). It was still very positive though - dd came out ok and I was only in the birthing part for a few hours.

It's far easier to be positive years after the event so don't forget that either. Midwife told me if she had a pound for every woman who says she's never having any more then a few years later, there they are back again

Oh goodie - an excuse to post my birth story

DS1, born 8.59pm on Sunday 26 April 2009 in the Malden Suite at Kingston Hospital. Birth weight 8lb 1oz.

I spent most of Saturday going to B&Q and doing the back garden with DH (digging up bloody bluebells!), trying to ignore increasing period type crampy feelings. Just before bedtime I had a bit of a pinkish show and my Braxton hicks were getting stronger and stronger. I went to bed, listened to my hypnobirthing CD and managed to rest a bit throughout the night (although couldn?t really sleep as tightenings were getting more intense).

Woke DH up at 8am on Sunday and we started timing the contractions (which DH, of course, downloaded into an excel spreadsheet ) They were lasting about 30-40 seconds and about 4 minutes apart, but not coming at regular intervals. I phoned the delivery suite at Kingston and they told me to call back once things had progressed a bit further. DH and I had showers, packed the hospital bag and I put on my TENS machine as the contractions were getting more intense. We listened to music, watched ?The Office? and I switched between pacing the room and rocking on my gym ball. The contractions became steadily more intense and lasted longer, sometimes over a minute each time, but were still quite sporadic in how far apart they were spaced (anywhere from 3 minutes to 8 minutes). I had to keep upright and keep walking and when the contractions came I did slow breathing and rocked my hips from side to side.

At about 3pm I called the delivery suite again as I was really having to breathe through the contractions by this point. They said they didn?t think I was in established labour as I didn?t sound in enough pain (!) but to come in and be checked over as I had had a bit of bright red bleeding, but expect to be sent home again for another few hours.
It was a relief to get in the car and go to the hospital, even though we knew we?d probably be sent home again. DH drove VERY carefully over the speed bumps... When we arrived the midwife strapped a monitor to my belly for 20 minutes to monitor the baby?s heartbeat (little monkey kept wriggling away from the monitor and kicking the midwife) and my contractions. Sitting still for 20 minutes was quite a struggle when the contractions came but I managed to keep on top of it. Midwife was about to send me home but I asked if she could check how far I had dilated (I wanted a bit of encouragement at that point that I had actually progressed, even if only slightly) so she and another midwife had a look and their response was ?oh! Ok...? They saw the baby?s head as I was 7cm dilated

The feeling of relief was enormous... I didn?t have to go home after all. DH and I went for a few walks to get the contractions moving again (they were spaced quite far apart) and after a few turns around the car park and a few sideways steppings up and down the stairs they were coming thick and fast.

Midwife ran the birthing pool in the Malden Suite but I didn?t get in straight away... I was still using the TENS machine and rocking my hips and doing slow breathing every time a contraction came. When I got in the pool it was bliss ? really lovely and warm and the sun was streaming in through the window. A couple of minutes after getting in my waters went with a pop. I lay my head on a towel and DH stayed close and just chatted to me and I held onto his arms.

After about an hour I asked for gas and air for the last few contractions (I think I was in transition at this point as it was all a bit strange and didn?t really feel on top of things like before) and midwife was saying to push if I felt the urge. I didn?t really feel the urge at that point and should probably have held off pushing for a bit longer but I started pushing and then the pushing contractions really started, although they didn?t seem to last quite long enough. I pushed for a while in the pool ? I didn?t use the gas and air as these contractions didn?t hurt at all, they just felt very strange ? but the baby wasn?t moving down very quickly.

DH was fantastic. He stayed by my head and kept telling me how well I was doing, how proud of me he was and how much he loved me.
Eventually, after about an hour and a quarter of pushing (sometimes held up by DH) the midwives got me out of the pool. I was despairing somewhat by this point as the contractions were tailing off each time before I?d been able to push for long enough and I felt like the baby was never going to come.

The shift in position seemed to help ? once I was on the bed and pulled my legs back and my hips apart they showed me the baby?s head crowning in a mirror. This (and talk of an episiotomy...) gave me the encouragement I needed and a few good long pushes later and the head was half born. Unfortunately the damn contraction stopped halfway through so I had what felt like an age with the head half in and half out... not very comfortable... Then the baby?s head was born and the midwife told me to push very gently and pant... she then said that in the next push the baby?s body would be delivered so I knew it was nearly over and I knew that I could do it.

One more push and a slithery little baby boy came into the world. The midwives caught him in a towel and then put him straight on my chest. He was screaming and a bit purple and squashed but I thought he was the most beautiful thing I?d ever seen (through my tears). His apgar score was 9 after 1 minute and 10 after 5 minutes.

They gave me the injection to get the placenta out, which took 17 minutes (felt like forever) and I had second degree internal tears that needed stitching (although my perineum remained intact on the outside ? the midwives said the massage must have helped). The stitching process was worse than the birth... ow ow owwwwww... I had more gas and air for the stitches than for the contractions!

After calming down and gazing at his very loved up mummy my beautiful new baby boy head boinged his way up my tummy, latched on and fed for 30 minutes.

He also pooed all over me... I felt properly glamorous: stark naked, legs in stirrups being stitched up, blood everywhere and sticky black baby poo all over me.

I feel very lucky as the whole experience was pretty much as I had hoped: calm, straightforward and intervention free ? healthy baby and very happy mummy

Hahahhahahaha - that was the longest post in the history of the world there is a prize for anyone who actually makes it through to the end without falling asleep...

Three lovely births, all different, all at home.

Could give you the detail but would take hours to type!!

First birth, at home in water. After a tough week of prelabour, H persuaded me not to call the midwife until after I'd had a show. She rang back when I was mid contraction and unable to talk so he said we were in no hurry! When she arrived about an hour later (showered, hair and make-up done!) I was 8 cm. From there on in it was a complete breeze (had still doubted I was really in labour up to that point). Funniest point was when baby was crowning (called the ring of fire for a good reason) I complained it hurt. My lovely midwives were at the other end of the pool and said, really sympathetically, yes we know. I felt a bit of a fraud and said, well it's not that bad!

Forty minute second stage which was calm and controlled. Felt very week afterwards but not so bad that I couldn't try to insist that labour went down at a week and 8 hours rather than the 8 hours the midwives were recording!! Would honestly say that I felt it was a really positive experience, painful at times but powerful, empowering and amazing. Came out wondering why, if women can do this, they don't rule the world! I remember telling someone on the phone just hours later that I had no problem doing that again.

Second labour, same midwives, same pool, same house. Really looking forward to it as felt I now knew what was coming. Fooled! Every pregnancy, every labour is different. Had real backache labour this time even though position the same. Contractions started 3 mins apart (never got that fast with first). Midwife arrived in 20 mins (no shower, hair a mess, no makeup, PJs probably under her clothes!). DC1 woke up at around 5am and came and held my hands during contractions for a while until he got bored and went and watched telly!

After a while in the pool had to get out as wanted to sleep! Woke every 10 minutest to incredibly painful contractions and a sense I wanted this to stop. Was, internally, shouting NO at every contraction. Eventually MADE myself say YES even though I didn't feel it!. After an hour, midwives started getting a bit twitchy, wanted to get me moving. Needed a wee. Had to go upstairs to the bathroom where everything suddenly happened in a flurry. DC2 arrived in an enormous hurry, almost down the toilet (very common apparently!), and was born on the bathroom floor. I felt sorry for her not having the gentle water birth I'd planned but, I now know her and she's very much the person who does everything her own way!!

While this birth did not go how I wanted it it was still a really positive experience. It was much more painful but I was aware what my options were at all points and felt I did absolutely the right thing for me at all points. I felt so lucky to have such fantastic and skilled midwives as, had I been in hospital, the temptation would have been to put me on a drip to speed things up when I wanted to sleep. After this birth, I felt ready to party. Having had a bath after the birth, I got out, cleaned out the bath and put my white dressing gown (a bit of a casualty of the fast second stage) in to soak before my midwives caught me and sent me to bed!

I remember lying in bed with H, DC1 and baby all asleap and I just didn't feel tired. So I rang everyone and told them the news!

Third labour, different house, different pool (didn't think we'd have hours to fill it so went with one that you could fill and keep warm for days) but same fantastic midwife. Hadn't been sure whether wanted older children there or not. Contractions started in the afternoon. By evening knew that things were moving and that nothing would really start until children were asleap in bed. Couldn't get DC2 to go to sleep (see above!). Finally, she went to sleep at 9. Gave my mum Rescue Remedy as she wasn't coping too well!!

By 9.30 contractions were about 3 mins apart. This time I examined myself, rang midwife, told her not to hurry that I wouldn't be having the baby before she got there (which would take her about an hour). Again, things seemed to stop for a bit and I did find this bit tough. I really started to doubt I could do it. Then, suddenly, it all happened and DC3 was born in 1/2 a contraction! My mum came in just moments after he was born and was in tears.

My older two woke the next morning wanting breakfast and my mum had to persuade them to come in to see me first. As my daughter said 'I think we'd forgotten you were going to have a baby'. They saw it as completely natural and normal. In some sense, the baby had always been there for them just now it was outside my body. Both went off to school that day as if it was like any other day!

No pain relief (other than pool), used homeopathy (Helios birth kit) when necessary, did tear with fast 2nd and 3rd births but healed well without needing to be stitched. Cannot praise my fantastic midwives Val and Caroline enough.

Sorry so long!

puts kettle on, shoves DS infront of c beebies, neck roll, cracks fingers, and prepares to read bicnods birth story.....

Haha good luck whensmydayoff - hope you survive the experience...

...although secretskills is giving me a run for my money - great stories by the way

Copied & pasted from my birth announcement thread 3 days after the birth of DS2:

I woke up on Saturday at 6:30am with a slight pain in my lower abdomen and thought maybe I was constipated. After a fruitless trip to the loo, I decided to have a shower, and realised I was in fact having contractions. They then came thick and fast. At 7:23 I thought, as I was finishing stuffing last-minute items into my bag, that I should time them: every 3mins

Left the house at 7:45am, arrived at the hospital at 7:50am, with the car sporting a fetching souvenir of DH's panic-stricken collision with a barrier while parking. Contractions every 40 seconds.

Someone found a MW, and she asked if I wanted to go into a bedroom or labour room, took one look at me and answered her own question. I had time to get undressed and lie down, she examined me and announced in shocked tones, "Fully dilated, your baby is here, you can start pushing." She then stuck 2 acupuncture needles in the sides of my little toes to help speed up the afterbirth. In spite of being in the throes of full labour, I said "ow" each time.

The MW whose shift began at 8 came in, bent down to look at me, poked me with a finger and recieved my waters all over her chest and neck. Pausing between pushes and yells, I said very Britishly "Oh, excusez-moi", which caused great hilarity. A couple of huge pushes, accompanied by much howling and shouts of "I can't do it", and Alexandre was born at 8:17am, less than 2 hours after the first twinge, 27 mins after arriving at the maternity hospital.

No pain relief, no episiotomy, no after effects, nothing but a huge feeling of triumph. Except when the MW ending her shift accidentally stumbled against one of the acupuncture needles still sticking out of my feet, for which I could have murdered her!

Alex had the cord round his neck, but was put on me straight away and soon recovered, was on my breast after an hour, pooed meconium all over me, and is a beauty.
3.425kg, 50cm long, blonde hair, blue eyes, and a fine line in cooing and snuffling noises. He's feeding like a trooper, and sleeping quite well, too. Long may it last.

I have minor grazes and that is it; I wanted to go home that afternoon, but had to stay in for the regulatory 3 days as there were no senior doctors around over Easter weekend to give me exceptional leave to go home, though the MW said there was no reason to stay, as I was up and walking around a few hours after the birth. So am just back. But the staff were lovely, very supportive but not intrusive, and the whole experience was fantastic.

An amazing contrast to DS1's birth, which involved epidural, episiotomy, horrible stitches and a baby who was whisked away from me at birth to be "heated up" on a glorified plate warmer, so I spent the night without him wondering if I had really given birth and what my baby looked like.

I am still buzzing, and so extraordinarily happy. If all births were like that, we'd each have 10 kids! And a very, very positive experience of birth in France, to counterbalance some other tales.

and that was the 'short' version Bicnod

Auld that is a fantastic story PMSL at you saying 'ow' to acupuncture needles

secretskills - oh yes, I could waffle for england

I was kidding, Im glad they are detailed. Unfortunately my DS won't give me enough time to read so I ve marked my place at Bicnoid and will catch up from there tonight.

Yay, a lovely birth story thread - I can talk about mine for hours!

I have had two wonderful home waterbirths, and am hoping for another in May.

With DS my waters went the day before as DH was getting dressed for work, I was in bed and said nothing as it was only a little bit - I waited till he'd gone and then sniffed the sheets! but nothing happened so I went out for a lovely meal with DH and some contractors from work who DH was supposed to be having big meeting with the next morning! I woke about 3am needing the loo (as you do) and thought 'Oh, that's more like I expected' and lay in bed trying not to clock watch and breathe until DH's alarm went off at 6. I told him to go and do a half day as it was our first and would probably be a while! He ignored me and went into work (4minute walk)to put his out of office email thing on then came back and filled the birth pool (which had only arrived from ebay 4days earlier!) I made porridge as I thought I'd need a sensible breakfast but my body was too busy to deal with food and I ended up putting most of mine down the loo!
He helped me stick the TENS pads on, and then held the buttons while I went to the loo, repeatedly! He must have felt like a bridesmaid in a much less glamourous setting! I wanted to keep moving - couldn't actually sit down, tried kneeling and leaning over birth ball but that wasn't for me so I insisted we went for a walk around the block - fine if it hadn't snowed overnight! He was trying to time contractions on an old stopwatch with sticky buttons so was pretty inaccurate so the hospital kept telling him over the phone that they weren't long enough or close enough together and it would still take a while.
When the on call midwife arrived (lucky me, one of the local ones from our village surgery who I'd seen ante-natally) I was leaning on DH saying 'I don't want to puuuush!' (I had heard of people having a little lip of cervix not quite dilated and pushing too early and making it swell and hurt more so didn't want to push until someone had examined me) She had a pretty good idea where I was before I'd taken my trousers off! I think the 5-10 minutes before she arrived were the worst of the whole labour as I was kneeling, leaning on a pile of pillows on our armchair saying I can't do this if its going to take hours more - classic transition if I'd only noticed! Would have felt a lot better if I'd realised how close to the end I was.

So I took off the TENS machine and got in the pool - Lovely, would strongly recommend to anyone - to start pushing. It took me a few minutes to get the hang of it but the MW was really good, pretty hands off, patient and calm, just putting her underwater doppler on my tummy after contractions to check baby was OK. I hadn't realised I would be able to feel baby's head moving back up a little way between contractions! But when she told me to put my hand between my legs and I felt how close he was, it was amazing. The second MW arrived and stood in our dining room doorway and said 'I recognise you, did you come to the NHS classes?' then went to get something out of the car - by the time she came back in I was holding DS! I remember being surprised at how short the cord was, holding him in my arms above water level I was aware of it being pulled, there wasn't much room to move him. She waited till it had stopped pulsing before clamping it and DH cut it. The placenta arrived easily without an injection, although if you are hoping for a waterbirth and the staff are happy for you to do the 3rd stage in the water I was shocked how much blood there seemed to be - the water was pretty much clear for DSs birth, but once the placenta started coming away, the pool quickly looked like it had been used for a gory film!
He was born at 1214 by the clock on the MWs mobile! weighing 7lb 8ozs

DD had her own live birth thread on MN!
I had been having niggles or tightenings or BHs (which I totally hadn't been aware of at eh end of DS pg)for about 10 days - having avoided calling her Poppy(thought she might arrive on Remebrance Sunday) or Terry/Pudsey(Children in Need obviously!) but still didn't thin anything was happening.
GF and I were planning to go for coffee and cakes while DS was at nursery but went to MW drop-in clinic first. As we had the date for moving house I explained to MW that if I went the full 14days over that I'd be moving house with a 3day old and would rather things happened sooner than later (this at 39+4) and asked for a sweep. She said she wasn't supposed to before 40wks but understood my reasoning and put her glove on. The told me I was 5cms dilated! So we put the coffee and cakes idea on hold and went home. The pool had been inflated for about a week and DS had been having his bath in it and thought it was wonderful, so we rained it out and washed it round with a bit of Milton and started refilling it. During this time I wasn't aware of contractions, and my waters still hadn't gone. DH got home from work and went to collect DS from nursery and I cooked pasta for tea. I can still remember GFs voice when she realised that the 3minutes I was timing by the microwave clock was twinges, not just the pasta! DH rang the MW and handed me the phone and I basically told her that DH and GF were getting antsy but I was talking to her and was fine so nothing to worry about etc....
GF took DS upstairs for his bath at about 630 and in the time it took for DH to go upstairs and make sure she knew where pyjamas and nappies were I went from fine to kneeling and leaning on the chair saying 'I think it means it now' Fortunately the MW was already at the Health Centre picking up the home delivery kit when DH rang to tell her I was taking it seriously now. She arrived fairly quickly with a student MW in tow, they brought the G&A in with them, it never made it into the house with DS! She asked if she could examine me first, then explain to the student what she should be feeling which I was fine with, with a contraction between the 2examinations! I was quite interested in what she was telling the student - apparently I was 9.5cms with a lip at the front - exactly what I'd been scared of with DS!
When I first got in the pool I was kneeling and leaning on the edge, facing DH but after a couple more contractions I turned around and sat down, the exact same position I was in for DSs birth. The second stage this time was much quicker - 6mins according to my notes! But the placenta took about an hour, during which she had her first feed then fell asleep!
It was a relief when they cut the cord and DH took DD for a cuddle as again the cord seemed short, and I couldn't really move while holding her.
She was born at 1935, weighing 9lb9ozs

I didn't tear for either of them, probably thanks to the water. But I would recommend a squeezy bottle of slightly warm water with a few drops of lavender oil in for when you go to the loo after as it can burn at first. I just couldn't get the water where it was needed with a jug!

Bicnod brilliant! Interested to hear you mention hypnobirthing - did you feel it helped?

It's hard to tell isn't it? DS is my first so I have nothing to compare it with, and I'm sure a lot of it is down to luck on the day...

Having said that, I will DEFINITELY be doing a hypnobirthing refresher course when (fingers crossed) number two comes along.

In the run up to the birth I was a lot calmer and less frightened than my antenatal class pals who hadn't done hypnobirthing. I really took on board the message that your body knows what to do, that birth is a natural process and that there is no need to be afraid. I also felt very in control pretty much the whole time - I used the breathing and relaxation techniques I learnt in the hypnobirthing classes and they definitely helped me to keep on top of the contractions.

The hypnobirthing CD was really helpful as well and I listened to it a lot when I was on the train to work/going to sleep/going for a walk. It's a bit meh in places but you just take what you want from it/take some of the really weirdy stuff with a pinch of salt.

It is expensive, but if you can't afford the full whack (which I couldn't at the time) then talk to the teacher - they might give you a discount - mine gave me a whopping one.

I can honestly say that I think the hypnobirthing helped me to have the positive, calm and natural birth experience I wanted.

DS1 was the most amazing positive experience - all the more so beacuse my first labour was very difficult and I was in total denial about my impending second labour.

I started having mild "twinges" at about 4pm. I had seen my midwife (I was 37+6) an hour before and she assured me the baby wasn't coming anytime soon and discussed seeing me for a potential induction in 3 weeks. By 8pm I was having regular mild contractions but they were easily manageable. At 11pm DH said he was off to bed as he had to work the next day - I pointed out I was having a baby and he wasn't going anywhere tomorrow!

My contractions got steadily stronger throughout the night and I spent those restless hours walking, dozing and watching TV (DH had gone to bed and I was happily managing). At 7am I decided I needed a bath and then spent the next 3 hours in there -dropping off for a minute or two between contractions whilst DH poured water over my shoulders to keep me warm.

Several times I asked him to call the hospital and their response was until she is screaming for you to bring her in - until then stay at home. Eventually about 12noon I felt I couldn't cope with the pain (I had been having regular contractions for 15hours and was tired as much as anything else!) and so we went to the hospital.

I was examined by a midwife and there was this awful moment where she sort of went "hmmm, ohhh" and i burst into tears! She asked why I was crying and I said "it hurts, please don't tell me I'm only 1cm and have to go home" - I really thought she might! She just smiled and said "sweetie you can start pushing anytime you want".

DS was born an hour later and I went home later that afternoon.

Fab