If you’ve read my birth story, you’ll know that my coping mechanism for labour was breathing. In order to feel its full effects, I kept my eyes closed. I didn’t want the hospital setting to interrupt my focus, so the first time I opened my eyes, in the short time I was there, was when the baby was on my chest. I waited to be overcome with emotion, but I just felt calm. I wasn’t distressed, but I wasn’t europhic either. I was expecting the whole world to feel different, to have been transformed, but it was still just the...

I was 40 weeks and 4 days in to my pregnancy on the day I gave birth to my first baby, a daughter I named Elira. I’d enjoyed pregnancy, and even at such a late stage, felt comfortable in my body, and was in no real rush for the baby to arrive - although I didn’t want to get too overdue and have the pressure of induction mounting. I’d established a good night-time routine: going to bed early, journaling my thoughts and feelings, and practising my breathing techniques. I had visualised going in to labour in the middle of the...