Hi Carla

Below is my birth story in case you are interested...! I had planned on a natural birth but was flexible in that I was prepared for anything! I don't think you will know if you can cope with the pain until you are in the situation. Everybody has a different pain threshold and what is mild pain for one person could be excrutiating pain for another! Don't worry too much abuot the whole thing as you really do forget it all once you see your baby!

Good luck!

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My story...

My mother had always told me I was a sleepyhead but imagine sleeping through labour! Well amazingly that's exactly what happened to me! Around 4.30 am on a Sunday morning, 3 days past my due date, I awoke with what seemed to be mild cramping. As my waters had not yet broken I assumed that this was not the onset of labour so I fell back to sleep without realising that I was about to sleep through the major part of it!!!! I awoke again at 7:00 am with more discomfort and decided to take a shower thinking this could be "it." However, I was not entirely convinced as, after viewing the birth videos at the prenatal classes, I was envisioning myself to be writhing around the floor in agony. About half an hour later and much to my dismay, the pains became progressively worse very, very quickly. I was pacing the kitchen in pain screaming at my husband Nick to "check the pregnancy manual" to see what we should be doing as, of course, we forgot everything we were taught at the pre-natal classes! At this point all my good (naïve!!!) intentions of a "drug-free" birth flew out the window. Bring on the gas, the pethidine, the epidural… and I wasn’t even at hospital yet!

I was slightly panicked as my contractions were already 5 minutes apart and, according to the midwife, you are supposed to go straight to hospital when you get to that point. My husband put in a frantic call to the hospital and was told to "stay at home – you have hours to go." But the timings of my contractions and my constant cramping were telling us a different story so, despite what the midwife had advised, we thought we would go to hospital anyway. The 20 minute trip seemed to take forever and I laugh now imagining what other drivers must have thought seeing me thrashing about in the back seat of the car! When we arrived at the hospital I was examined and the midwife was shocked to discover I was already 10 cm dilated (too late for drugs!!!). So it was just as well we didn’t stay at home or we would’ve made headlines… "Father Delivers Baby In Backseat of Car." The obstetrician was called immediately and when I was examined advised in amazement that I was ready to bring the baby into the world! I started to push but things became serious very quickly as the baby was in distress and it's heartbeat dangerously low. To speed things up the doctor decided a vacuum extraction was necessary and if that didn't work I would have to have an emergency cesarean. Two pushes and an almighty scream later and our little angel Gabriella enters the world - a gorgeous little 6 pounder and of course, the most beautiful baby we have ever seen.