October Birth Story

The 20-minute journey took over an hour, as I had to keep telling my husband to stop when a contraction came. By this stage they were coming every two minutes. It took us ages to get to the delivery suite from the car park as, when I stood up, the baby's head pressed on my cervix and caused even stronger contractions.

When I was examined I was 4cm dilated and they gave me pethidine immediately. I had planned to have a natural birth with aromatherapy, possibly in a birth pool, with gas and air if I needed it, but by this stage all I wanted was relief. I managed to doze for a little bit as the edge had been taken off the pain.

Soon the pethidine wore off so I began to use gas and air as well. It made me feel completely out of it and really helped.

The midwife examined me again at 9.30am, but I was only 5cm dilated so she decided to break my waters. This speeded things up immediately as the contractions started coming one after the other with no let up. I asked for an epidural but the anaesthetist was in theatre. Suddenly I felt the urge to push but the midwife told me to wait as I wasn't quite 10cm dilated. As soon as she said it was OK I started pushing. My daughter Caitlin was born at 11.54am on 9th August and is the best birthday present I've ever had.

I don't have any regrets about the birth. Although it didn't go as I had planned, the outcome was good, as we are both fine. My advice to other mums-to-be is don't be disappointed if your labour is not as you imagined.