Martha Ottilie arrived May 2013, in the UK, in an NHS hospital.

I'd hoped to have a drug-free delivery, but had always accepted that the situation and my feelings might change. By the time my contractions started at 4am on Friday May 10, she was eight days late and I was delighted something was finally happening. Contractions got closer together and when they were only five minutes apart, we headed to the hospital... Where they told me I was only 1.5cm dilated and still in the latent phase of labour. So we went home and waited for progress... Contractions carried on getting stronger over the weekend but weren't consistent with timings. I was in a lot of discomfort and couldn't sleep at all. Baths helped, but it was pretty miserable. I'd ordered a TENS machine, but it did nothing for me at all and actually seemed to intensify my contractions.

By Monday morning, contractions were stronger than ever, consistently five minutes apart, and I'd lost the mucous plug. Back to the hospital we went. This time, I was 5cm dilated and they admitted me. Good times! However... The day wore on and I made no progress. The hospital suggested I go home for a few hours as often things can happen faster there. So home we went. I was in a lot of pain and was really tired as I hadn't managed anything more than brief dozes since Thursday. By 1.30am (now into Tuesday) I couldn't deal with the contractions any more, so back we went...

My waters broke as soon as we got to the hospital room and ten minutes later I was 7cm dilated. However, there was meconium in the waters. I'd wanted a water birth but the merconium meant I'd have to wear monitors the whole time. So no pool. Then her heart rate started dropping with every contraction, so they explained they'd need to do foetal blood sampling (where they go in through your vagina and prick your baby's head with a metal thingie, then do some tests on the blood). It was a worrying few minutes, and the room was suddenly full of people moving very quickly. But at the last second, when I had a leg in a stirrup ready, they decided they didn't need to do it.

After that, I decided I wanted an epidural. I was tired, in pain and scared. Once it was in, I felt amazing. Everything in the period that followed is quite blurry, but by 9am it was time to push. Two hours of pushing and she was here. The epi had worn off by the time I was pushing and it was definitely the most painful thing I've experienced. It was also harder work than I'd ever anticipated. One of the difficult things about it was accepting that the only way to get the baby out was to push beyond my pain barrier - once I did that, everything progressed very quickly. I needed a small episiotomy and as soon as that was done, she was out on the next push. They popped her on my chest and I sobbed uncontrollably, I've never been so overwhelmed with emotion.

We didn't find out the sex in advance, so when she was placed on me, we looked together and discovered we had a little girl.

Post partum recovery was fantastic. I read so many scary things, but within two weeks I was fully healed and experienced very little discomfort. Post partum bleeding was not heavy and stopped at around two-three weeks.