Positive but complicated experience of birth

so....Thursday evening was my due date, I went to the theatre and spent some time with friends, and then to sleep. At 2.40 in the night I felt warm water so jumped out of bed and woke my husband A. I ran to toilet, there was more water coming. I rang the homebirth team, M was on call. She was a bit worried I had some blood coming and no contractions so sent me to check in triage. we arrived at Womens, and while we were walking low contractions started. we had to wait and wait there, and I felt so hot in that hospital and just wanted to take some comfortable position on my yoga ball. finally they took me in and attached me to monitor with two wires for half an hour. baby's heart beat was fine, and my contractions were now coming every 5min. nurse asked me to do vaginal exam, and that was so painful. she said I am 3cm open. we wanted to go home, but she said I have to talk to a doctor..

then one lady doctor came and I didnt like her approach at all. she said "I see you want homebirth, but I am not happy with your test and you are not in active labour". when I asked her to explain me why is she not happy, she said "what do you mean why am I not happy, I am just not happy." she then said I can stay attached to monitor and lie on the bed. No way! I was standing all half an hour and I wanted to kneel. she said I can walk to the door and back and in the morning they will do induction. I got really angry. I asked her to leave me with my husband to talk. I told him that I hate this room and bed and bright lights and that I don't want all of this, and I am mentally prepared for home birth and I just want to go home. So we signed papers that we are leaving and left. In the car I said "Ok, I will get my anger out in next two minutes and then I will start with positive thoughts again." he laughed while I was yelling how I don't like people treating me like that. 

At home I felt much better, I had banana and yogurt, my music, essential oils and candles. I had contractions every five minutes and I was drawing my poster with positive thoughts and cervix opening in colours. I felt really positive and relaxed. 

Midwife A was on call that day, she called me and she was listening my breathing and contractions. she came very soon with Midwife K, I don't even know what time it was, maybe 9 in the morning. during all of this, I lost sense of time. 

My husband made tea, we were eating biscuites and joking but every now and then I had another contraction. it was amazing to experience how nature is completely taking control over my mind and body, and I just had to surrender. The pain was like stronger period pain, and now I am so grateful I had painful periods my whole life cause it prepared me for giving birth. I was breathing on all fours and making that "horse sound" with my lips, that helped a lot. my husband was holding me and whispering in my ears. during last month of my pregnancy I made him practice labor massage, but now I just didnt want any touch on my back. I prefered gentle stroke on my hair, that was like little distraction.

The contractions became stronger and stronger, with no breaks to rest. I asked for my song that I was singing every morning after yoga and breathing, I was singing in labor and again that helped. When I thought I can't make it, I would look in A's eyes and at Midwife A's smile. Her smile was the most encouraging thing, and she always said "you are doing so great, you are doing so good."

I was very hungry, but felt too sick to eat. Because I was loosing energy, they gave me food, but then I vomited. Again, after contraction was gone, the pain was gone again and I again felt hungry. very strange feeling. :-)

Then the need for pushing came, I just felt it like big need to empty my bowls. I felt a bit ashamed, but I told that to Midwife A and she told me not to worry. she called another midwife. 

All 3 of them were so unobtrusive, but I felt their presence. They were checking babies heart beat and my pulse, but I felt I am going in my head in some other world and that feeling was so powerful.

Only problem was that this need for push would come and go. and then I had to wait for it to come again. and that waiting was bad. I just wanted to push him out, I could feel his head coming down and then after the need was gone, his head would go up again.. I was becoming impatient and stressed, thinking 'what is wrong?'. I didn't like the breaks. Midwife A was suggesting change of position, so I went from kneeling on all fours in my husband's lap to standing. A was reading me affirmations from hypnobirthing and that also helped. Midwife A gave me a little mirror so I was able to see his head and even touch it.

In the end, I gave birth on my left side, Midwife A was holding my leg so that I can push. He came out and started crying immediately. Midwife A put him on my breast and he started sucking my nipple. it was amazing feeling. A was stroking him and I just felt all the pain is gone. he was born at 2.40, exactly 12 hours after my water broke. he was 4kilos, everybody was surprised he is such a big baby, cause my belly was small. I was so happy to be surrounded by love and peace. 

Finally I was able to eat so I enjoyed my jaffa cakes and just looking at our baby. I knew that third stage is coming, but I didnt feel any need to push anymore. It all felt to me like 10min, but later on they said it was 40 minutes. I saw Alice is worried, although she turned her face into smile every time I looked at her. She was trying to put me in better position, but my knees were shaking. A cut the cord,  placenta came only half and she gave me some syntocin, she was pulling placenta slowly, and a lot of blood came with it. She had to do two stitches, she gave me an injection, but I was just breathing and looking at the baby. It all looked fine and I was very positive and full of love.

Sadly, seems like I was still bleeding and suddenly I heard music in my head and started fainting. They called me and Midwife A said we should call the ambulance. My husband got scared cause my face was yellow. But I kept on smiling and holding my baby and that was only important. 

I just remember I was very hungry and very cold, but no negative feeling or fear. The ambulance came, they were all lovely, they took me in the van but allowed me to hold the baby during the whole journey. Midwife A was with me, we were talking and I felt safe because of her positive attitude. 

In hospital they gave me gas and air to do the vaginal examination. that was so painful and horrible. I felt like I am on drugs, not aware of things, but I could still feel the pain. I started laughing and yelling, and I was just repeating how glad I am I didnt take any drugs during giving birth cause I wanted to be aware of every sensation. 

I was also repeating how bad it would be for me if I had to give birth in that room with bright lights and that hospital smell.

So....in the end....we spent the night in the hospital, I had two amazing nurses checking me all the time and answering all of my questions. I was hungry all the time, but they didnt allow me to eat, just in case I bled more. They gave me a transfusion. The positive thing was that my husband was with me in private room all night and baby S was with us, we were both holding him skin to skin, and he was eating colostrum. In the morning they let me eat and I had shower. I was transferd on the ward (I just wanted to escape from that place). Luckily, I was able to leave before bed time. I had lots of pain down, but knew I just need some sleep (and the ward was too hot and full of people).

One more thing I remember was how bad the food was - after all that pushing and bleeding I wanted some healthy warm meal and they gave us chips, beans and pies - not good for recovery and digestion.

I came home and had some soup. I was so grateful for everything that happened. and my baby was fine and healthy. 

We are now getting used to the lack of sleep. I am breastfeeding and just lying next to him, observing every grimace he makes. I have to admit, I am falling in love. 

that was my story :-) I am lucky I had positive experience of birth, although there were complications after, emotionally I felt great

A dad's perspective

My wife and I have 3 children aged 8, 5 and 2. Our oldest was born in a birthing suite in Southmead Hospital, Bristol, and our younger two were both born at home in Cornwall and Birmingham respectively (we’ve travelled around a bit!).

First of all, I should say that our first childbirth experience was, in general, very good. The staff in the birthing suite were excellent and it was as stress-free an environment as a hospital can get. Having said that, I spent the early hours of my wife’s labour on a very uncomfortable mat trying to get a little sleep and, at the end of the day, we were in a hospital. That birth itself, was mostly trouble free. Perhaps unsurprisingly the problems only started after M was born. We were released from the hospital on the day of the birth – mother and baby both doing fine – but without a Doctor release as there was no-one available to sign us off. We were advised to return to the maternity ward the following day for the clinical checks.

Given that M was by that time 24 hours old, he was showing slight signs of jaundice (birth bruising, more likely) and was admitted to hospital. This was a truly horrible experience – our first child, brand new, was put in an incubator for 3 days when it was plainly obvious that what he needed was his parents.

So, birth good, post-birth care horrible. By the time our second child was due, we were living in a fairly rural part of Cornwall. In all honesty, this made our decision to have a home birth much easier (that, as well as living next door to a midwife!). The choices were that, Truro hospital, a good half hour’s drive away or a birthing centre in Helston – also half an hour away.

Given the geography of Cornwall, the medical system there was much better set up to support home births and it quickly became our preferred choice. And, looking back, it was absolutely the right thing to do.

I didn’t even realise it at the time, but simply being at home – being able to rest in our own bed, use our own kitchen – feeling in charge and in control – removed so much of the stress of our first birth. And this, I am sure, made N’s labour much easier as well.

When we phoned the hospital to advise them that N was going into labour, they sent a midwife out straight away, and a second arrived just as G was being born. Again, the midwife team was superb and the altered dynamic of us being in our own home made it feel like they were there to help and support us rather than boss us around.

A final point on our second child birth experience – I know that for N, being able to have a bath in her own bathroom straight after Gabriel arrived helped her to relax immensely and, once again, kept stress levels to a minimum. Also, going nowhere near a hospital environment meant that there was no likelihood of Gabriel ending up in hospital unnecessarily.

So, when we were expecting our third child, we had already decided that it would be another homebirth. Surprisingly, N was advised against that throughout her pregnancy – not on any medical grounds, but being much more savvy by now, we knew that our decision would be final.

Without going into all of the details of the third childbirth, the overall experience was very similar to our second. Relaxed, stress-free, we were in charge and the support from the midwives was excellent.

E was born on a very snowy night in the middle of January, and that was the only concern we had, really, that the midwife team wouldn’t be able to get to us – not that I was planning on driving anywhere in those conditions (we had even re-done the pre-natal classes as a refresher so I’d feel confident delivering the baby myself!).

Two things really stand out for me with regard to E’s birth. Firstly the utter shock and overwhelming joy at having a baby daughter and secondly, being able to wake the boys the following morning and introduce them to their new baby sister, in our own home, just the five of us. It was a truly special moment.

Overall, given my experience of having three children, all of whom are healthy and with mercifully no birth complications, I would whole-heartedly recommend and support giving birth at home. As a man, you don’t feel like a spare part, like you’re getting in the way and you can watch your own TV and make your own coffee while waiting for the “business end” of proceedings. Not dissimilar, I guess, to the way that women feel about giving birth at home.

A phrase I have heard at the home birth support group which really rings true for me is that hospitals are for sick people, so why go there if you’re not sick?

We didn’t bother with birthing pools or any other paraphernalia, our two youngest children were simply born in bedrooms at home in warm, cosy environments and never needed to visit hospitals where, let’s face it, they are more likely to pick up bugs and get ill!

The midwives who helped us to deliver G and E seemed to really get the best way to help a woman giving birth at home, taking more of a back seat, and were all lovely women to have met –
again, something that gets lost somewhat in a medical environment, I think.

I would recommend home births to any father-to-be and (not that we plan on having any more children!) would only go to hospital for child birth if it was ever entirely necessary.

Third child, first homebirth, very positive!

Here's my story, can't wait to hear some others!

As soon as it found out I was expecting our third baby I was really keen to have a home birth. My previous 2 daughters had been pretty straightforward in their arrivals with the second taking only 1 hour 20 mins to arrive in the world. My husband was a little unsure about the home birth experience but having had his mind well and truly put at rest by the wonderful home birth team we transferred under their care mid-way through my pregnancy. 

Now as I sit here writing this with my new daughter by my side I can honestly say being under the care of the home birth team was one of the best experiences I have had in the pre, during and post birth care.

Having had both my other daughters early when I started having more regular contractions for about an hour at 39 weeks I decided it was time to wake my husband up and call the midwife! We rang about 5.30am and by 6.15am the first midwife arrived, closely followed by the second. It was such a positive start to it all as along with our elder children we sat watching cbeebies and chatting about the excitement of our new family member arriving. One of our best friends had also joined us by this point to help look after A & I. Being at home meant I felt very relaxed so was happy to breath through contractions and chat to everyone while the midwives turned our loft bedroom into a tranquil haven of birth(!) and my husband had his tea making skills tested to the limit! Having seen our youngest daughter go off to nursery with friends (we decided to keep our eldest daughter at home as she had much more understanding of what was happening) and my contractions getting stronger I went upstairs with John to join the midwives and leave A and K to art and craft activities! I felt a bit nervous not having any vaginal examinations as to whether I would know when to push but in hindsight that was such a fantastically empowering feeling as was able to trust my body in knowing what to do and when. My contractions had become much more regular and intense but I felt really relaxed and able to cope with the pain and loved being in my own dimly lit bedroom. At around 8am I felt very tired and decided to kneel, leaning on the bed. After more contractions I clearly remember thinking I've had enough of this pain it's time to push the baby out- still wasn't sure if this was the right time or not as my previous two labours had started with my waters going and so far they were still intact! With the next contraction I gave a big push, my waters went and 30 seconds later T was born, with the midwife only able to put her gloves half on in time to catch her!

The midwives were so fantastic at clearing up really quickly so my daughters could come and join us and meet baby T. I will never forget the precious memory of us all eating toast and tea in bed only 45 minutes after her birth. I was then able to have a gorgeously long, hot shower in my own bathroom while T had cuddles with her big sister. The midwives stayed around for a couple of hours to make sure T was feeding ok and back to a good temperature. It was so lovely having them around to be part of our memories of that day. A was then keen to go to school so just 3 hours after her birth T had her first experience of the school run as we all went as a family to take A to school, something that could never have happened in a hospital environment.

As T will probably be our last family addition I am so glad she came into the world in such a positive and amazing way. My husband, who was so reticent to begin with, is now an ardent supporter of home birth and happy to chat through the concerns any other dads to be might have. It was nothing but a positive experience with I am so thankful to have had.

Second baby born at home: the most incredible experience

Before I share my birth story I thought I’d just mention the experience I had with my first child, Arthur, who’s 3 ½ .

My waters broke – 10 days early – at around 9.00pm in Paula’s yoga class and I immediately had contractions every minute to two minutes. By 11pm I was 7-8cm dilated and we went to hospital. The midwives thought it would all be done and dusted within a few hours. But things slowed down – he was also back to back, which didn’t help. Arthur was eventually born after a 15-hour labour. I was prepped for a C-section (after ventouse didn’t work) but he was delivered with the assistance of Keillands forceps (BIG forceps). Despite the interventions, the whole experience was really positive. Excellent care from the Women’s Hospital. The worst bit was recovery (3rd degree tear and episiotomy).

This time round a friend who was training to be a midwife asked whether I had heard about the new home birth team. I had never even considered a home birth before. What I did know was that I did not want to be under the same community midwife, who had reduced me to tears twice in my previous pregnancy – she was abrupt and grumpy. So I thought about it, chatted to a friend who had had a home birth, read some stuff online, talked to my husband and decided to go for it. The end result was easily the most amazing and uplifting experience of my life.

While Arthur was 10 days early, this baby decided to make an appearance 9 days late. It turns out I had probably been in a latent phase of labour for a few days. On the Friday I had my fourth (!) sweep and was already 3-4cm dilated (they’re not comfortable, but fine – especially when you have them at home) and I went for an acupuncture session. On the Saturday I was VERY grumpy and emotional (not a great birthday for my husband, I think). I had had a lot of Braxton Hicks throughout the second half of this pregnancy, and by Sunday they were quite intense. I was sitting, rotating on my birth ball when the baby did a huge wriggle and twist and my waters went at 10.15pm. With a second ‘pop’ of waters my contractions started thick and fast – every couple of minutes. The tens machine proved to be excellent again until I got into the water. The midwives from the homebirth team arrived within 30 minutes and the race was on to send Arthur to stay with friends and to get the pool up and filled. Having gone upstairs to the bathroom, I managed to make it downstairs (just!) and the pool was set up just in the nick of time for me to get in. Can’t tell you how good the water was. Although the midwives had sent for the gas and air from the hospital (it gets sent over in a taxi) it didn’t arrive in time – turns out this was actually a good thing, as I felt far more in control and present without it. Hester I H was born in water, 2 hours and 10 minutes after my waters broke. Turns out that I was the first person to hold her, as Lauren (my midwife) didn’t actually touch her during the labour. She was born in the water and ‘swam’ up into my arms, where I was the first to see that she was a girl. She weighed a respectable 8llb 2oz. 

We stayed in the water for a while (with a welcome glass of champagne) and then the midwives helped me into the sitting room, where I was comfortably ensconced on the sofa and had the syntocin injection to deliver the placenta, and Lauren gave me local anaesthetic and stitched up my small 2nd degree tear – the gas and air had arrived by this stage, so I used this. Then we all sat around in the sitting room drinking tea and champagne, eating cake and admiring the baby. Afterwards, the midwives helped me upstairs to have a shower and then I went to bed. My midwife Lauren came back to visit me and did all of the post natal checks at home – we saw her most days for the first week. I can’t describe how amazing it was to have that continuity of care – from antenatal, to labour, to postnatal – all with the same fabulous midwife. 

Throughout my pregnancy I was aware that things might change and that I might need to go into hospital (and also if that needed to happen during labour, I’d be there within minutes) – that it worked out the way it did was just the most incredible experience. Richard, my husband, also said that the experience for him was markedly different to being in hospital – he felt much more empowered being in his own home. If you haven’t thought about a home birth, then do – particularly if it’s your second pregnancy and you know a bit more what to expect. The new home birth team are ALL totally brilliant and very lovely. I’m almost sorry that I won’t be doing it again.

I had been having twinges all week and everyday at some point I thought "this could be it!" But they never got into a rhythm that lasted longer than 2 or 3 hours.

Finally on Thursday morning at about 6 ish my waters broke and continued to trickle......I had a few twinges after that but again nothing began to establish, so after a very long walk at approx 12.30pm with the family, I decided to have a kip. I slept for about 2hrs and when I woke up the twinges had disappeared completely. I think they came back about 4 or 5 and began to get into a rhythm we started to time them although I knew it was early labour the sensations were getting stronger. I had been bouncing on my ball and staying upright and at around 10pm I called the midwife and she came out, she examined me and I was only 2cm dilated, so left. After that they eased off for a bit but at about 2am the sensations had increased in pressure and I was hoping to get into the pool (I'd completely forgot about my tens machine!). The midwife came out examined me again and I was still only 2-3cm arrghh!!!! So she went. Again the twinges decreased for a bit.

I was so disheartened, and cross with myself. At around 3am I sent my husband to bed as he'd been up as long as me and I knew he'd need his strength for later.

The feelings were strong but I knew they should be stronger, so I ate dates, after every date I had a contraction which was more powerful than the last and at around 4.45am I threw up, and that's when things started moving!!!! I woke my hubs and asked him to get the pool ready, I rang the midwife and told her I needed to get in the pool. She asked me to wait as she didn't want baby coming whilst she wasn't there. I waited as long as I could and at 7ish about 1min before she arrived I got in the pool, the pain eased immediately, at 8am she examined me but I was still only 2-3cm, at this point I was so disheartened I asked if I could go the hospital and have an epidural as I was knackered and it isn't called "labour" for nothing! It was decided that if things hadn't started to get going by 12pm I'd go in. I was offered gas & air and along with my hubs awesome sacral skills that eased things.

The next exam was at about 10ish and I was 4cm....WOOHOOO the magic number! At about 11am I had asked hubby to get in the pool, he was reluctant but I gave him no choice, I was getting urges to push I was examined and was 8cm so was told to breath thru by 11.30 I really needed to push I was examined again and told that if the midwife stayed where she was for the next contraction she could "fold the remaining cervix" over babys head, then I could let rip on the pushing front. Jeez, that was an experience, needless to say I asked if the midwife could remove herself from the position at this time! (In the back of my mind was my previous birth experience and that was not helping) I wanted to push but wanted to be entirely sure it was ok to do so, so I was holding off. The midwife suggested another exam and if this time, if needed, to be able to do the folding, at 12ish I agreed. A few min after, around 12.10pm my hubby got out the pool to use the loo, when the next contraction eased, by the time he got back she was half way in the world, he didn't miss the important bit! She was born at 12.19pm!

Sacral massage from the hubs, breathing correctly, and gas and air saved the day! 

There were times (lots) when I just wanted to give up, go to hospital and have drugs! but with my husband's and the midwive's encouragement, I stayed at home and birthed the way I wanted to.

I want to thank Paula's Pregnancy Yoga for the lessons she taught about breathing, being upright and moving,  and especially sacral massage!!!!

Sandy’s leisurely arrival

My waters broke on the Sunday morning about 7am, and contractions started, so we called the midwives, and filled the Pool. Both of my first 2 labours were about 7 hours in total from first twinges to baby's arrival, so I was confident that by early afternoon, I'd have my baby. However, by mid morning my contractions were stopping. I tried Caulophyllum (homeopathic remedy), and Clary Sage (aromatherapy oil), but nothing happened. I know that once your waters have broken, if you haven't produced a baby within 72 hours (protocol at this time), they want to get you into hospital to induce you, so I was very aware the clock was ticking... The next day, my midwife asked me if she should book me in for the induction on Wednesday. I told her I didn't want to think about that option, as I was trying to think positive. I needed her to say "Don't worry. This often happens. I'm sure your contractions will start again really soon." I knew about the 72 hour rule, but would have been unwilling to be induced, so I think she knew there would be a battle if it came to it, but fortunately it wasn't necessary anyway. She was also worried that my bump had shrunk, and requested that we go into hospital for a scan to check everything was OK. My waters had gone - I would have thought that should've explained it. But anyway, we felt it would be irresponsible to ignore her concern, so off we trotted to spend the afternoon at hospital - the last place I wanted to be at this point! The scan was fine, apart from the radiographer said I was showing as 164 weeks pregnant! And then she input something incorrectly, so that when we went to have the results analyzed, we were told the baby was breech, which fortunately I also knew was wrong.

On the way home from the hospital, I went for some Acupuncture to try to kick start contractions again. The acupuncturist was confident she would be able to stimulate contractions, but wasn’t sure if they would continue once the treatment had finished. But in actuality, I didn’t have any contractions even while she was treating me! I was desperately trying to stay positive, but did wonder whether the labour would start again on it’s own.

So we bought a pineapple (supposed to help induce labour), had a curry, and settled down to watch TV, sitting on my Birth Ball. About 8.45pm contractions finally returned. Yippee! After a while I got my TENS machine on, and got focused on my breathing. But around midnight I felt the contractions were easing off again, so I thought the best thing would be to take the TENS off, and get some sleep (not knowing how long things may be off or on for). But after about 2 hours I woke up as the contractions were too strong to sleep through, so I got the TENS machine back on, and got back on the Ball. By 2.30am, we thought we should probably call the midwife, who arrived just after 3.00am. As soon as she arrived I told her I wanted to get into the Pool (on the phone, the midwives had told me to wait until they arrived before I got in), so she took some details, measured my bump, and took the TENS off, as I was running to dive in. I told them I thought I was pretty close, and they agreed. I didn't have any internal examinations as my waters had broken, and didn't want to risk infection in case the labour stopped again. Mind you, by this point it was definitely passed the point of no return, but I was really pleased that the midwives didn't feel the need to do an internal. Jonnie got in the Pool with me, and it didn't take very long after that. In fact Sandy was born only about half an hour after the midwives arrived. I'd had minor tears with my previous deliveries, so I asked the more experienced midwife if she would help me deliver without tearing, which she did, and I didn't tear at all. I was amazed! It made such a huge difference to my recovery. Alexander was born under the water at 3.40am on Tuesday 5th December. I brought him to the surface, and we stayed in the water while he got used to life 'out here'. It was magical. We had fairy lights on, and music playing. Sandy was so chilled out - no crying. In fact he was so relaxed, the midwives were concerned he wasn’t breathing very well, and suggested cutting the cord. I asked if they thought it was a good idea to cut off his established oxygen supply if they had concerns that he wasn’t breathing very well with his lungs, and they agreed to leave it. After a while, they were happy he was breathing well on his own, so I asked if we could have some privacy to spend, just the three of us getting to know each other. They left us to it for about an hour in the dim light, having skin-to-skin contact with Sandy, while they sat in another room doing their paperwork. It was fantastic!

Un-planned home birth

Baby Lucas arrived at 6.30 yesterday morning. The day before, Tuesday, I was quite unwell, although without any pains, and went to the Women’s, where I was told I probably just had a stomach bug. Now I think it was more likely to be labour starting!

Anyway, I spent a good night, and my waters broke at 5.40am on Wednesday, almost without warning, although my midwife had been telling me for days that labour looked imminent! We called the hospital to expect us, had a quick shower, turn the TENS on (god, it was soooo helpful!) and by the time I finished dressing, at around 6.10-6.15am, I realised the baby was coming. My husband then called an ambulance. It took the paramedics about 10min to arrive, at which point I really felt I had to push - the lady paramedic who took charge of the situation didn’t even have time to take her coat off, as she could see the head already! She said I could push - three pushes and the baby was out!

The funny thing is that this all happened about 5 metres away from where my son was sleeping - and he didn’t wake up!! Eventually, he did, but I think it was more due to the 10 people helping us moving around than my screams, bless him. At least he didn’t witness any of the trauma!

Luckily, I delivered the placenta naturally about 25min later. Then, all the necessary arrangements were made to take me and Lucas to the hospital, where we were properly checked, I got stitched up (second degree tear, unsurprisingly!) and got confirmation that everything was fine. They weighed and measured Lucas - 9lb 15oz, and 6 hours later, they sent us home. Everything worked out fine, thank goodness.

It was obviously very intense and scary. For a while before the paramedics arrived, I really thought we would have to deliver the baby on our own. Luckily, professional help arrived in the nick of time.

So there you go, a perfect example that you cannot plan anything when it comes to birth and labour!! And also, that nature is actually pretty smart and your body can cope with pretty much anything!