6 days past my due date, despite being only April it was ridiculously hot and I was sooooo ready to just have a baby already.

Being my first pregnancy I had known I wanted to educate myself on birth and after doing some online research I settle on being a few books talking me through the stages of pregnancy and booked onto a face to face hypnobirthing course which I did with my partner a few months prior to our due date.

Finally, that evening when settling down for bed the first tightening began and we were excited to start timing them every now and then to see how things were progressing while trying to catch sleep when I could. At the time it was *a little* frustrating having a sleeping partner next to you but the reality is that you need your birthing partner to have enough energy for you both so in hindsight this was the best for us all.

A sleepless night led to a restless day, bouncing on the birthing ball, trying to eat small plates of food to keep up energy, walking, positive energy to get the oxytocin pumping. After a few check ins with the midwife on the phone we headed in to our local midwife led unit to check the progress.

I was dilating nicely but still much more to go. So the birthing pool was run, candles on, music playing and we continued like this for some time. After a number of hours I was starting to feel the drain of lack of sleep and not managing to eat more than the odd nibble so was feeling chilly so got out and had a wee and the midwife offered to break my waters to see if that would help get things moving.

Eeeeek I dont know what I was expecting but after a nervous moment while they did the procedure the news that I had instantly dilated up to about 8cm was all the positive news I needed.

While I was on the toilet the midwife had a quiet conversation with my partner to tell him there was meconium in my waters so we needed to transfer to the hospital as a precaution. He had our things packed up and me wrapped up calmly in no time. It was only a 15 min drive and the roads were empty as it was the middle of the night but boy did I feel every bump of that drive once you've got a baby's head pushing down!

The walk from the car and up to the delivery floor was only a few steps at a time before I was breathing through the next contraction. Once in the room I was, in my husband's words, heard moooing from the carpark, but it just helped so much to use my voice to get through those moments.

Soon enough, when I thought this surely can’t go on much longer (now into 8 days past due date) I really needed a poo. My midwife smiled and said it was time to have a baby!

I had been labouring on the bed on my knees leaning into the pillows on all 4s and then stood beside the bed holding onto its rail which I had felt the best position for me and I didn’t want to move.... so that’s how I stood, holding that bed, partner to one side midwife somewhere nearby and that baby's head was born. My goodness it was a relief to know it was happening, that I could do it, that our baby was so close to being here. It’s a bit of a blur now how it felt, massive that’s for sure!! but no tearing feeling, just the sense that there was something so massive that I couldn't believe my pelvis could be wide enough, I was holding the most humongous squat to keep my legs as open as I could imagine. The whole time I kept telling myself those positive affirmations, as did my partner, that I could do this!!

Then there was a little break, the midwife was prepping me to get ready for the next contraction and my partner even had a chance to say hello to little ones scrunched up face while we waited in those few seconds of respite. She popped pillows and blankets all around and under me on the floor and said "how about you deliver them". I didn't believe I had the energy to let go of the bed, but she said they would hold me up and that I could do it. So partner on one side, midwife the other they held me up and with one strong motion our baby was born straight into my very own hands as I pulled them up towards us to see he was a boy.

It was the most incredible moment of my entire life and just thinking about it now I’m flooded with tears of happiness. This hot, slippy baby, still attached by his cord, there in my arms, that I was the first person to ever touch and hold him. They helped me onto the bed with him on my chest. He was absolutely perfect. Typical boy he was already covered in poop so while I savoured the moment to relax he was wiped down a bit and we did some delayed cord clamping. My partner cut his cord and then told us about the afterbirth.

I was offered an injection but at this point too speed along the afterbirth but the only intervention I had accepted was the waters being broken. I didn't feel the need at any point for pain relief as I felt I could handle what I was experiencing and wanted to be completely aware of everything. Sure enough after a short wait I felt another contraction and the midwife told me to pretend I was blowing up a balloon and with one totally weird sensation I gave birth to a pile of jelly that looked as big as my baby. The fact it doesn’t have bones certainly helps a lot!! She even gave us a science lesson as she examined the placenta to check it was all healthy.

A few stiches and 12 hours later to make sure there had been no breathing complications for the meconium, we were home and introducing our baby boy to his grandparents and friends. My recovery was super speedy and we were out enjoying life as a family of three within days.