It's not been the easiest pregnancy, with blood loss, being told several times I could lose him, and almost constant infections, but it's been so worth it to have my little boy finally here with us!

So here's my birth story...

Almost everyone thought I was going to be late so me and my husband decided to have my family over for dinner. It was really nice and relaxed, we're sat eating curry and playing Monopoly afterwards.

However as the night went on I just didn't feel right. I felt agitated but couldn't really explain why and found it really hard to sleep.

At 7am the next morning (and my due date) I woke up and noticed the bed was slightly wet. I stood up and felt a small gush of fluid. I called my hospital who told me to come in and they confirmed that my waters had gone! I was so excited.

I was sent home to wait for the contractions to start but 24hrs passed and they never did, so I was induced at the hospital the next day.

I had to have the gel pessary and was high risk so I was kept on the labour ward. But unfortunately the pessary didn't do much in terms of contractions for me, so I was given the drip.

Now the drip I was told makes your contractions incredibly painful, and I was sat there quite happy and laughing with the midwives and my husband despite being on the max dose they could give I was only 2cm. Normally most women were climbing the walls at that point but I didn't feel anything. I was sat there thinking it was a bit anticlimactic to be honest! So a consultant authorized for the midwives to double the max dosage that they normally administer to induce my labour.

That's when I suddenly changed...

I couldn't sit still and needed to be on my knees facing the back of the bed, using the gas and air like a lifeline. 10 minutes and they further increased the dosage and I asked for the pethidine shot which didn't work at this point so I was more or less crying out for the epidural.

The midwife examined me and I had gone from 2cm to 8cm in less than 40 minutes.

Having an epidural while you're having extremely painful contractions almost back to back was so hard. I was shaking with pain and almost strangling my husband throughout each one. When it was in I was so relaxed I quickly progressed to 10cm without realising.

However, while I'd been thrashing around during the contractions and crying for help I'd broken the filter for the epidural so they had to take it out and 're do it in the exact same spot. I almost cried when they told me that!

So they quickly gave me another dose before I was told I was ready to start pushing as my baby's heartbeat dropped so low with each contraction they actually prepped me for an emergency c section if I wasn't able to push him out soon.

The pushing wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! Seriously felt like I was having a giant poo. And yep. I pooped 3 times during this 😑 as my midwife lovingly informed me.

I didn't feel a ring of fire but I got to a point where I suddenly panicked and said I couldn't do it. As soon as I got over that I pushed through the pain and his head was out. I remember the midwives trying to slow me down then to prevent tearing but my instincts took over and I pushed the rest of him out in one push. I was told it was 4 pushes in total by my husband.

He was so perfect when they lifted him up and onto my chest. I couldn't care less about him before covered in blood or anything else at that stage. I vaguely remember them gently pulling on the umbilical cord and the placenta being pulled out. That was such a strange feeling!

But due to pushing so quickly, I ended up with a 3rd degree tear and an internal one which caused sudden haemorrhaging. I don't remember much other than the midwives rushing around and pressing an emergency alarm before handing my baby to my husband.

He said that I lost over 2 pints of blood and they rushed me into theatre to stop the bleeding. Apparently there wasn't any time for pain relief either but I'm glad I don't remember any of the surgery.

I woke up in the delivery room and was told that I also had sepsis but they weren't sure where the infection was. So I was suffering with severe blood loss and sepsis which is why I felt so ill.

I remember crying as I felt so fragile after giving birth. Something that not many people tell you.

I didn't feel like myself, I was hurt that I couldn't move to hold my son and cried every single time he cried. My husband broke down in front of the midwives from the trauma of it all and the thought of losing me.

Now 6 days after giving birth, 3 blood transfusions, and a whole lot of painkillers and antibiotics I'm beginning to feel like myself again. I can't keep my eyes off of my baby and I would do it all again just to have my son.

7lbs exactly and born at 6.47am!