Amélie Margaret Roberts.

She finally arrived! A week later than expected but she's here now. My third little piece of perfect.

Born September 1st 2014, at 6:12pm weighing 8lbs and 13oz.

The Homebirth...

I started the weekend with a sweep, that was Saturday morning and by the Sunday evening I'd started having mild pains. We thought it had started so, excitedly we waited. We waited until at around 11pm they stopped...just stopped. I had a few twinges through the night, just enough to keep me up in a nervous excitement.

Monday came, another sweep that resulted in us knowing that not much had changed down there. It was dinner time and we were told that it probably wouldn't be today, that was disheartening. We thought we were so close, that those pains had to have done even a little something! As we got into the afternoon I started having moderate pains and tightenings again, after hearing the previous I think I subconsciously told myself they couldn't be as bad as I thought.

Mid afternoon and they were definitely getting stronger and closer together... I ran a bath. The water helped, it gave me something to concentrate on. The contractions had gotten to the point were they had started to take my breath away, we called my mum, not that I could talk much. She came around with my little sister, she was there to amuse the boys whilst it was all going on. I stayed in the bath, not sure how long I was in there for but we made the decision to phone the midwife...she was an hour away, she was on her way.

I got out of the water and changed into a loose nighty to be comfy. Sitting on my birthing ball the pains were getting stronger, I thought I might frighten the boys but they just carried on playing around the place whilst I faced each contraction head on. At this point I was worrying that I had called the midwife out for nothing, I didn't want her to have had a wasted journey.

She arrived, and with one hand on my bump as I had a contraction she told me what I wanted to hear, she was going to stay with me. After a quick internal I was pretty impressed with myself that I was 6cm dilated. She did the best thing she could have done for me at this point and ran out to her car and brought me the gas and air....lovely! After I was set up with the gas Dane helped her bring in all the other equipment and she called for a second midwife to make her way to us.

At this point I just remember a lot of pressure, I was told that that was my waters as they still hadn't ruptured. I was also told that once they went the baby would probably follow quickly! After a short trip to the loo that involved my husband, a gas canister and approximately three contractions, I was getting the urge to push. Absorbent pads were lay underneath me as I climbed onto my bed, I asked the midwife if I could push. By telling me to do what I felt gave me the control, I appreciated that more than anything. Being in my home with my things and my family, the midwife someone I knew and who knew me, I felt completely in control and sort of empowered.

The boys in their bedroom just next door had no idea that their little sister was almost here... One push sent my waters going with a massive gush, I caught the end of the contraction and pushed again, she was here! My second stage of labour (the pushing bit) was a whole two minutes. It was the most amazing feeling, she was placed on me and I fell in love. Dane cut the cord as the midwives cleaned around us.

Dane brought the boys in one at a time to meet their new baby sister, they fell in love too. Then they went for a bath and off to bed. Both mine and Dane's mums were at the birth and it was such an amazing experience. The second midwife left to file our paperwork at the hospital and my midwife stayed for a couple of hours just to observe that everything was ok. Amélie latched on almost straight away and took a really good feed, this upped my confidence in breastfeeding again. After helping me get washed and changed our mums left us too. This was another aspect of a home birth that I liked, I wasn't rushed, everything was at my pace, not before I was ready.

After it was done it felt amazing to get into my own bed, my beautiful sons asleep next door, with my husband and brand new baby girl. Everyone left us, and they left us in absolute bliss.