I knew I was in labour!

Babyworld member alijaney's baby gave her a little surprise when she was born!

• In between contractions, I shaved my legs
• There were no spare delivery suites
• I was soon 'away with the fairies'!
• She was fine within minutes

In between contractions, I shaved my legs

Baby was supposed to be due on 26 October 2002, although my dates and first scan had predicted the 16th, so I really didn't know when it would arrive and didn't much care as long as it wasn't on Hallowe'en!

On 29 October, I was so bored and feeling fat that I walked around Sainsbury's with my mum in the afternoon, then around Safeway with my hubby in the evening. I decided to start a jigsaw and challenged my baby to come before I finished it. I felt a twinge at 9:30pm but didn't think much of it and carried on with my jigsaw. Twenty minutes later, I felt another one and the same again 20 minutes after that, so said to hubby, 'If I was feeling optimistic, I would say I was in labour.'

Pains kept coming every 15 minutes or so. By 2.00am they were 9-10 minutes apart so I rang the labour ward and spoke to my midwife. As we live near the hospital she told me stay home until either the pain was unbearable or the contractions were about five minutes apart. So, between contractions, I shaved my legs to keep busy and watched American football on TV!

There were no spare delivery suites

By 4.00am the contractions were four or five minutes apart, so we went to hospital where there were no spare delivery suites. I was hooked up to a monitor on the antenatal ward instead. They said I was definitely in labour but it was very early and the contractions were slowing down so I could either go home or stay on the boiling hot ward where other women were asleep. I decided to go back home with the advice to take two paracetemol and try to sleep. Contractions stayed the same and were bearable until 8.00am when they really started to hurt!

We went back to hospital, where they had even less beds, and was put on a postnatal ward and monitored. They told me they thought I was still not in established labour (3cms) and that my baby was probably a few days away yet as the contractions seemed to be slowing down. I was so upset. They told me to have a bath as, if they were going to speed up, they would do so after the bath.

I was put back on the monitor after my bath to find they were exactly the same and was told, 'Sorry, don't think baby is coming till the weekend'. (This was on Wednesday!) I was very upset. I told them I couldn't go on till then as I was in agony so they agreed that I should be examined before I went to see if my waters were bulging. The midwife did her stuff then said: 'You're not going anywhere. You're 5cms and this baby will be here before midnight'. This was 11.00am. She suggested I try a TENS machine which I did and spent the next hour wandering round the hospital muttering, 'I knew I was in labour!', with my TENS wires sticking out of my dungarees.

I was soon 'away with the fairies'!

At 2.00pm, a delivery suite was available so I was taken up and examined at 3.00pm by a student midwife. She reckoned I was about 6cm dilated which surprised me. Thankfully she was wrong and the other midwife said I was 8cm, nearly 9. They guessed delivery time would be around 6.00pm.

Just after 3.00pm, I asked for some gas and air and was soon 'away with the fairies'! During the next couple of hours, the baby was very active and kept changing sides, moving off the heartbeat monitor. At 5.00pm the midwife said she's break my waters to speed things up and, not long after, I was told I was 9.5cm. What was strange was that I never ever felt the urge to push. An hour later, I was told that I could try pushing if I wanted to and I did, although I still hadn't fully dilated.

When I started to push, the baby's heartbeat started to drop a lot and the monitor let off a panic alarm. The midwife told my husband to press the button to call an emergency team in to deliver the baby quickly. It was decided that the baby should be born as soon as possible as it was in distress so I was given an episiotomy and they used a ventouse to get the baby to descend. It was soon clear that the baby had the cord very tightly around its neck and, as I was pushing, it was getting tighter and tighter. They pulled hard with the ventouse and soon had my baby's head out enough for them to release the cord. I was then able to push the rest of the baby out.

She was fine within minutes

As soon as she was free, she let out a huge scream (hooray!) and promptly pooed all over my legs! At 6.19p.m. Freya Maddison Grace was born, after a 23-hour labour, weighing 8lb 4.5oz, and was very blue!

Freya was taken to a resuscitation table and given oxygen to get some colour back into her but was soon handed to my husband and me for lots of cuddles. She had a cone head but this went within a few hours and, for a baby who went into distress, she was absolutely fine within minutes.

I couldn't believe we had a little girl - throughout my whole pregnancy EVERYONE said they thought it was a boy … they were all wrong!

Where to next?

• Read the full birth story
• Read accounts of different types of birth
• Read accounts of other assisted deliveries