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‘When I think back to Lorelei’s birth, I think of it as the time in my life that I was the strongest I’ve ever been. Contraction after contraction came, and I made it through each one. Each contraction felt like nothing I had ever known, but the feeling of coming through each one was exhilarating.’

SUSAN, 34, MOTHER OF LORELEI (3)

SIX REASSURING THINGS ABOUT LABOUR

1 Labour is finite and at the end of it, you’ll have a baby.

2 In labour you have choices: you are giving birth at a time when your choices for how, when and where you labour have never been taken more seriously by the medical establishment.

3 In labour, you will cope: you bought this book – you are therefore well on the way to working out how to handle giving birth, whatever happens.

4 You can now hire someone to support you in labour: doulas are specifically trained to give you and your partner unconditional encouragement, information and support in labour – all without resentment or hidden agendas. (See Chapter 9: The Love of a Good Woman.)

5 In labour, social niceties don’t matter: uniquely, this is a day when demanding drugs and/or pooing in front of strangers will be perceived as neither insane nor illegal, and may even be greeted with genuine excitement and pleasure.

6 In labour, you can be rude: you can shout obscenities at your partner (or sister, or mother-in-law) safe in the knowledge that none of them can hold it against you or answer back.