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So much for the planned c-section... At 3am on Wednesday 21st May I woke up with a stomach cramp. I thought it was food poisoning as my husband and I had eaten meatballs and spaghetti and weren't 100% sure they were cooked! I went to the loo and had another contraction on the loo. At this point I admitted to myself that I was actually in labour. I woke my husband and we timed my contractions. They seemed to be five minuted apart so we phoned the maternity ward and they said to come in. This was only about twenty minutes since the first contraction. My sister arrived to look after The Bean and I even managed to have a shower and discuss with her what I should wear (we abandoned the idea of jeans and went for trackie bottoms and a loose top - both of which had to be thrown away!).

My contractions felt like period pains but much sharper, I definitely had to breath deeply through them and my sister commented that I seemed to be in more pain than she remembered from the early stages of labour. After a kiss with The Bean, (who had woken up in the commotion) we jumped into the car and made our way to St Marys. Luckily it was about 4am so there was no traffic on the roads as my contractions were coming every two minutes and my husband was having to stop the car whilst I had them!

We parked the car and had to walk to the front entrance of the hospital which was a five minute walk away. On this short journey I had two contractions and passed a man who was making his way to Paddington Station with various suitcases. He could immediately tell what was happening; a woman with a huge tummy groaning and holding on to her husband for dear life could only mean one thing outside a maternity hospital! He understandably avoided all eye contact with us and I think I saw pity in his eyes!

Once inside I was taken to the maternity day care area to be assessed. I don't think they thought I was in labour and there was some confusion because my C-section was booked for later that day. I continued to have contractions and when they did an internal examination I was 4cm dilated! I was taken straight through to a delivery suite - they believed me now! It was probably because I still felt fairly relaxed. My contractions were painful but not unbearable, if only I knew what was to come...

I continued having contractions which got more and more painful and closer together. The only way I could deal with the pain was to shut my eyes, stop speaking and breathe deeply. At some point I was introduced to gas and air which became my friend over the next few hours. I basically felt as if I was having an out-of-body experience because it was so painful, but I was aware of things happening like the weather and traffic report on the radio and my husband discussing The Apprentice with the midwives. A couple of hours later I was in a lot of pain. The midwives said they'd check me in four hours but they did a quick check and just as well, I was 8cm dilated! This was at about 8-9am in the morning and they estimated that I had a couple of hours left to go. Actually I dilated to 10cm in about 20 minutes after that, my contractions became really frequent and there didn't seem to be much space between them. I was managing on gas and air but taking a lot of it in, so in between contractions I was pretty spaced out. All I wanted was a little break, I think I was pleading to everyone that I needed a quick break, even just for twenty minutes of relief. No such luck, the contractions just got more painful and closer together. I think at this point I was screaming out with each contraction, and I had no control over the sounds coming out of my mouth.

At about 9.30am I felt an incredible urge to push, I sensed the midwives were surprised by how quickly i'd progressed. It basically felt like I needed a massive poo and it was SO painful. Because I was 10cm I was allowed to push and it was such a relief. It actually gave me something to focus on even though it was incredibly painful. By this stage I had to give up on the gas and air because pushing was easier without it. The problem was I just couldn't push my baby out. I tried so hard and eventually pushed for an hour and a half. The midwives were telling me to visualise a ridge I had to get my baby over, but it was no good, apparently they could see the head with every contraction but it was going back in again in between contractions! In the end I was so tired and contractions were so close together they decided to give me an episiotomy. After this my baby came out almost straight away.

At 10.32am on Wednesday 21st May my daughter Poppy was born and put on my stomach. My husband cut the cord and I felt utterly overwhelmed. All that pain and pushing was worth it when I looked at my tiny daughter, who at 8lbs wasn't that tiny! I put her to my breast and she breastfed straight away. She was very dark like me and had a huge mop of black hair. Funny because The Bean's hair is almost blonde... I remember the placenta coming out shortly afterwards and having a good look at it because I didn't see the placenta when I had my previous C-section as I was fascinated by what it looked like.

Unfortunately on closer inspection (by about five people) as well as having an episiotomy I also tore - and had third degree tears so I needed surgery straight away. It seemed really strange to be wheeled into the theatre away from my husband and Poppy and given a spinal block - exactly as if I was having a c-section. And I was feeling so proud of myself for having a VBAC. After an hour in surgery I was wheeled out to my lovely beautiful baby Poppy who had well and truly bonded with my husband whilst I was away and he'd had to change her first nappy!