Sarah's story - Erica

ERICA

My third pregnancy flowed like clockwork. I sailed through all the usual midwife appointments, check-ups and bloods. My midwife was a bit more cautious this time, however, because during my second pregnancy I developed gestational diabetes and toxaemia, and ended up being induced three-and-a-half weeks early. So it was a great relief to recieve normal results all round.

The due date for the arrival of my third daughter went by and I began to really feel the effects of summer combined with a full-term pregnancy. When I was three days overdue, my midwife checked my cervix and found that I was 5cm dilated with no sign of labour... Interesting! So I went home to put my feet up and wait for things to get started.

At 6am the following morning, I woke to contractions three minutes apart. A quick shower left me feeling better but my husband was quite worried whether we would make it to the maternity unit in time!

Upon arrival at 6.25, my contractions were only one minute apart. Just after 7am, Erica was born -- a bonny 11lb 08oz (5.2kg). The funny thing is, for months I joked about going in to hospital at breakfast to have my baby and coming out by lunch. I never guessed it would actually be like that, or that Erica would (or could) be that big!

I had a great midwife and fantastic support throughout my pregnancy and birth. I learned not to have too many expectations of what birth should be about -- just let it be what it will. The idea is to get a healthy baby, and a happy mummy, and we were blessed with just that!