A first-time father posts his feelings about his wife's labour and the birth of his son Jason on the Birth Stories board

Gail was expecting her fourth baby, although this was my first. She had had two water births before, when she lived on the south coast, and she really wanted one this time.

Milton Keynes General Hospital was having a birthing pool installed, but it would not be ready for when she was due to deliver. She was most upset about it, and it wasn't my fault for a change, but we discussed it and decided that what will be will be.

'This is going to be it'
That's what she told me, when I came home on Thursday 17th January. Having had a false alarm, I thought, 'OK, we'll see', trying not to get up my hopes - but obviously this could be interpreted as uninterested.

Gail had a fairly good night, but when I woke up at 4am - my normal time to go to work - I asked her if I should set off. 'You'd better not,' she replied. I said that this had better not be a false alarm. Gail assured me it wasn't.

We then spent the next couple of hours giving the house a spring clean, organising our friend to pick the boys up from school, and then stay the night at our house if necessary. I don't know how many of you text on your phones, but I nearly melted the network telling everyone I was going to be a dad.

Standing by
It was about 12 noon when Gail said she wanted to phone the hospital. This was good, I thought, she hadn't really complained about contractions or anything. Still remaining calm, I called our friend and put her on standby.

The hospital said she'd better come in. They then phoned back to say that Gail's midwife Susan had explained that she wanted a water birth, and that they were prepared to let her use the birthing pool a week before it is officially opened. 'Result,' I thought. 'She'll be in a really good mood.'

I felt like a tool
Gail went into full labour at around 2pm on Friday 18th January. When we got to the hospital, she was assessed and our other midwife Julia said she was 4cm dilated already. Despite my protests, she came with me to the car to get the bag. While we were out there, the contractions jumped from five minutes to really strong and every two minutes. We had to stop at various points on the way. I was thinking that she should have stayed, and this will be fun if her waters go.

When we got back, we went straight into the delivery suite. There was the birthing pool in all its virginal glory. Gail was walking around and just whimpering occasionally and I was rubbing various places on demand and being squeezed without any holding back (ouch). Basically, I felt like a tool. But it was brilliant.

Into the pool
Gail got in the pool. It was all calm and natural, and she seemed to be calm again. There was a learning curve for all of us and we had fun keeping the right temperature in the pool. This was made even more difficult when the thermometer escaped down the plughole when I was letting some water out so we could top up with hot.

Then what seemed like minutes later, there was a show. Things were going well, Gail seemed to be quiet, she never shouted once, just a couple of whimpers and an 'Oh my God' and the waters popped. 'Wey hey,' I thought.

Gail is my hero
I was still holding on to her and stroking her, when Susan said, 'There's the head'. I couldn't believe it, there are all these ladies shouting the house down all over the place and my wife is saying 'Oh my God', followed by a little whimper. Then Jason popped out and swam/floated to the surface. I was amazed. She had no pain relief whatsoever and our son was born so quietly and calmly, it was amazing. Gail is my hero, I was so proud of her.

I would just like to say a big thank you to both midwives, Susan and Julia, who did an excellent job. The first water baby delivered in the Milton Keynes General birthing pool, Jason Ian Leslie Ashley was born at 6:14pm on 18th January 2002 and weighed 9lb 11oz.

Three hours later, after feeding Jason three times, Gail got up and walked to the bathroom and had a bath. I can't believe we were home at 10:30pm. It seemed like we'd just popped out and got a baby. She and Jason have been getting on fab ever since. Although I am making sure that she does as little as possible.