Pregnant women are often inundated with terrifying accounts of labour. iVillager Andrea decided to set things straight with her happy birth story

I had such an excellent birth experience that I thought I should share it with you all. When I was pregnant, people were far too quick to tell me their horror stories. So, it's about time you pregnant mums heard some positive news for a change.

The build up
As my pregnancy progressed I decided two things about delivery day. First, I didn't like the idea of an epidural, as I wanted to be as active as possible during labour. Secondly, I promised myself that I wouldn't swear and scream the delivery suite down. Believe it or not I managed to stick to these plans. This is what happened...

Three days before my due date, my partner, Andy, and I were watching Footballers Wives. I had been getting Braxton Hicks contractions all night but didn't think much of it as I'd had them since I was six months pregnant. I sat forward on my chair and suddenly felt something drop inside me (like the baby's head had moved down) and a trickle of water ran down my leg, I was shocked - it happened so suddenly. I told Andy, and we were both really excited. I went to the loo and, sure enough, my waters had broken.

Straight away, I started having what felt like period pains. They were coming every five minutes, so I phoned the general infirmary and they told me to make my way there immediately. Well, that's when the fun began. First we had to get my bag and the last minute things together. It was total chaos - despite making a list, when the time came, we still couldn't organise ourselves.

We finally got out of the house and jumped in the car, only to realise we had no petrol and no money. We had to go to my mum's and borrow 20 quid, fill the car up, and also drop our dog off at my best friend's house en route. It was like something from a Carry On film. By the time we were really on our way to the hospital my contractions were only three minutes apart. I thought I would be giving birth on the hard shoulder of the M26.

At the hospital
We finally got to hospital at 11.30pm. They hooked me up to a monitor straight away to check the baby was OK. Both the baby and I were fine, but the pains were getting more intense. They told us to wait for the doctor and sent us to the day room, where there was a TV to help us pass the time. By this time the pain was getting unbearable - the last thing I could do was watch telly.

The doctor came at about 1.30am. I thought she was going to examine me, but she just said I should try to get some sleep, as it could take a while - I couldn't believe it. A minute after she was gone, I asked for some pain relief and the midwife said she would have to check me out first. It was a good job she did - I was five centimetres dilated and fully effaced, so they whisked me up to the delivery suite. Yippee - pain relief!

The birth
They gave me a shot of Pethidine, which was strange. It doesn't take the pain away, it just makes you feel spaced out. I kept shutting my eyes and thinking I was back at home.

The delivery midwife was brilliant. She said she would examine me at 6.30am but, by 5.30, I told her I wanted to push, so she had a look and said I was 9cm dilated and to try pushing if I wanted. I tried for a while, but nothing happened, so I sat on the birthing ball and rocked about a bit, which did the trick.

I pushed for about 45 minutes and my daughter, Lucy, was born at 7.06am, weighing 7lb 8oz. She was so beautiful - not a wrinkle in sight - and a head full of dark hair. Andy was a star all the way through, wiping my forehead and giving me sips of water. The midwife passed Lucy to him, while they sorted me out, and he was teary with emotion. We will both remember the experience forever - it was the best day of our lives. Lucy is 12 weeks old now and we enjoy every minute of her as she develops her own little personality.

Don't get me wrong, giving birth is hard work, but it really is all worth it when you see your gorgeous baby smiling up at you.

Are you about to give birth and could do with some first hand advice or reassurence? Or have you had a baby and would like to share your story? Why not chat with other iVillagers on the Birth Stories message board. Take a look at some of the LIVE discussions taking place right now on the board: