A few days before my due date, I started feeling contractions, but they were not very painful, so I just kept them to myself. Then when my boyfriend had gone to work, guess what happened? My waters broke. I phoned my boyfriend (Gerath) and told him I was in labor. He started to panic and said he'd be over ASAP. I'm surprised he didn't cause a road accident!

When he got home, my contractions were very powerful and close, and I had began to shout and scream through them. Gerath said maybe I should try to get in the bath, so in I hopped. As we didn't have a midwife, Gerath decided to call an ambulance. They said they would be there in 10 minutes.

Twenty-five minutes later, I was still in the bath, and I felt the urge to push. I called Gez and told him. He told me to go for it. I held his hand, put my chin on my chest and pushed. He looked down and nearly fainted! Gez fetched a mirror and showed me. The head was nearly out! I give one more big push and Pheobe Kat Soulder was born in the bath. Gez scooped her out, and she immediately wailed. I delivered the placenta and Gez cut the cord.

Five minutes after the birth, the ambulance came. When we got to the hospital, we found out that Pheobe weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces. Luckily, I didn't tear at all. The birth (11 hours) was the most spectacular thing.

Pheobe is now 1 1/2 and is looking forward to the arrival of her baby brother/sister in July this year. We are all very exited and are planning (hopefully) another homebirth.