What I chiefly remember of my labour is apparently endless days and nights all merged together, and wondering whether is was possible to be in labour not merely for days but for years and perhaps even a lifetime. In fact the whole experience took 70 hours. I may say, however, that I was handsomely compensated by lack of pain. It wasn’t painless, but it was perfectly manageable, even over that length of time.

The contractions started on a Tuesday night (the 9th September 2003) at about 11pm. Proper sleep was impossible, but I dozed in between the gentle contractions, which must have been about 20 - 30 minutes apart. The following morning, we rang Lynn who identified the contractions as being the early stage of labour. She said she’d come round at tea-time. My husband and I decided to make the most of the rest of the day while we had time so we went and picked up some dry-cleaning that was ready for collection. We also bought some honeycomb (meant to be a helpful snack during labour!) and had lunch in a restaurant. I wondered whether the staff noticed that every so often I was having contractions…

I made a Tesco order on the internet when we got back (no food in the fridge!). When Lynn arrived she decided that labour wasn’t properly established. She stayed for a while but left eventually saying she’d come back the following day. We went to bed but unfortunately I couldn’t be comfortable lying down, so I transferred to the kitchen, where we had the birth pool. My husband very sweetly followed me down, and slept on the sofa, despite its being excruciatingly uncomfortable for him (it’s a two seater and he is six foot four). But for that it would have been very lonely. I couldn’t sleep, only doze; I was constantly interrupted by visits to the bathroom or contractions, and I had to change position for them. It was slightly debilitating, and I decided I didn’t want another night like that. So the following morning I asked Lynn how I could speed things up a bit. She suggested exercise, so we went for a walk. We didn’t get very far, because every time I had a contraction we had to stop so Joe (husband) could massage my back. What the passers-by must have thought I can’t imagine. It was damp and mistily raining and foggy… When we got back I did exercises. They did speed things up a bit, and Lynn came round in the evening. She was joined by Rosie, her partner, at about 11pm. By this stage I must confess I thought the baby was having us all on for a laugh, and wasn’t really planning to be born for another month or so.

That night was like a throwback to my childhood’s sleepover birthday parties. As well as Joe and me we had two midwives, all except Lynn trying to sleep in furniture not designed for the purpose. The sense of support was enormous although I felt very depressed at yet another night spent in uncomfortable dozing in the water.

The following day was punctuated by deliveries. Tesco. the butcher, Parcel Fo rce and Amazon all took a turn at peering in through the door to the kitchen. I tried the exaggerated knees to chest position to get the baby into a better position while Joe had a much-needed sleep. It was an internal examination by Lynn that finally got things moving, and I went into the second stage of labour at 5.30pm. Slightly to our surprise, it only took another two hours for the baby to emerge and another hour for the placenta to be delivered. Despite the exhaustion all of us felt, it was an ecstatic moment. It was all the more of a triumph for having been such a struggle - I had to dredge up all the courage I had to persevere, rather than giving in and going to hospital, but there was no question that it was worth it. Our little baby girl opened her eyes straight away in the dimly lit room, and soon found her way to her supper without much help.

There is very little doubt that giving up and going to hospital would have ended with a section, as a cranial osteopath told me later. But despite the fact that it was a ‘difficult’ labour which would have prompted medical intervention in a hospital, in the end I had no problem in delivering the baby without even painkillers to help. The only things that no woman should be without when giving birth is support, and lots of it. I owe a great deal to Lynn for getting me through the experience without despairing. And if I can manage it, anyone can!