I had my second son at home on January 6, 2003, nine years after having my first in the hospital, October 15, 1993.

When I gave birth to my first I was really young and didn't research my options too well, and the results were typical – 36 hours of stressed out, unnatural, frightened labor, with an epidural in the end and forceps delivery. I wanted it different for my second, who came along much later.

I had an amazing pregnancy with my second. I could have done it 10 times over. I was a ball of energy, swimming four days a week and lifting weights three times. I gained 16 pounds and was back to better than normal one week after birth! (Not so with my first. I gained 45 pounds and felt terrible, not exercising and complaining about how I felt the whole time!)

Anyway, I knew I wanted to try for a water birth this time, as I know when I am uncomfortable during menstruation I take to the bath and always feel so much better, so I thought it might be the same for birth. This meant we had to do a home birth, because our hospital doesn't allow water births.

So I called a midwife and arranged everything. She was supportive of everything I wanted to do.

After a wonderful full-term pregnancy, one day before my due date at around 2 a.m. I felt my water start leaking out in our bed. No discomfort, no warning, just a suddenly constant whoosh, at which point I had to put pads and eventually diapers in my underwear to stop from wetting everything! I told my husband quietly that I knew it was water and this was the day our son would be born!

At about 5 a.m. we decided to call the midwife since the water just kept coming and coming, and I guess I felt some irregular light contractions that I had to breathe a little bit through, no big deal.

The midwife came by around 7 a.m. and checked me. I was only 1 or 2 centimeters dilated. This went on, nice and mild, until lunchtime.

We had all chatted through the morning, eating soup and toast and playing games with our 9-year-old when my midwife suggested I get up and walk for a while. I went around the block a couple of times and that was it. It was all the stimulation I needed to get things really rolling.

At the end of my walk, I had to pause and carefully breathe through the contractions as my husband timed them. I went from 2 centimeters to 8 centimeters in one and a half hours. All the while my contractions were manageable and I felt totally on top of them. I almost felt guilty that it was so easy, thinking I was getting all this attention undeservedly!

It was only in the last half an hour before my son was born, from 3:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., that I wanted to die. I made the mistake of going from the comfort of my couch to the pool; for me it wasn't right. I overheated (and the water was only warm) and panicked.

Transition hit and I thought I was going to vomit or explode, all the while thinking I was on fire. It was a sensation I can not accurately describe. I was suddenly feeling all my confidence slipping away and got tearful, crying to everyone in the room that I can't do the rest, I'm finished, someone save me!

I got out of the pool (the relief from getting out of the pool was amazing), squatted next to our bed and my husband braced me from behind. My midwife then checked the baby's heart rate and found it had dropped. She advised me to push, now.

In transition, just 25 minutes, I went from 8 centimeters to 10, but my son's head was caught on one edge of my cervix.

The midwife tried to reach up and move the lip, but it hurt so much having her there that I shouted at her not to touch me, and I pushed hard three times and forced him out myself. Big mistake. If I had let her ease the lip away, he may have come more slowly and eased out the vaginal canal. But I was defiant and pushed him so hard that he shot out without me being prepared. Hence, I tore in three places, externally and internally.

Nevertheless, it was over and he was on my chest in eight minutes, from my first push to my last! I think I would like it to go a bit slower next time, so it's not so damaging to me and so frightening!

They had to give him oxygen for a good five minutes. He was pretty blue, but his Apgar scores were perfect and he was so beautiful!

I am writing this as I approach 26 weeks pregnant with our third. I won't attempt a water birth this time, but I'm sure we'll do another home birth.

We are so excited about the baby, but all a little hesitant about the transition stage. I am still feeling quite traumatized by that mere 25 minutes of agony!

I wish I could relate all the details that are in my mind of that wonderful event, but that may take up to six pages, and I don't think anyone has time to read that much. Hope you enjoyed my birth story at a glance!