I almost gave birth in the car!

Hayley tells her birth story: 'My baby was due on 17 April 2007 and I was determined that he would not be born on the 18th April as that is my brother's birthday and all I had heard since announcing my due date was how he would share his birthday.

I woke on my due date with heaps of energy and as this was my 4th baby I knew this was a sign that things would be happening soon. When I went to the toilet I noticed that I had had a show so was getting excited and decided that now would be the time to wash my hair, shave my legs etc (well a girl has to look good for her first meeting with her new baby).

By later that evening I was getting mild pains and was up and down all night with irregular contractions which decided to stop at 6am the following day. Typical!

By 8.30 and time to take the older children to school they had come back more regular and were 7 minutes apart and getting stronger so I told my hubby not to go to work.

As I had a midwife appointment that day, I decided I would go to that rather than ring the hospital as I didn't want to get to hospital too early.

I saw my midwife who could feel the contractions as I had 3 whilst she was checking the heartbeat, but didn't examine me as she didn't want to set things going any faster than they were.

She sent me to hospital to be checked as the baby hadn't moved a lot in the last few hours. When I arrived at hospital I knew things were well on the way and I was strapped to a monitor to monitor the heartbeat.

I was still having contractions about every 7 minuites which were getting painfull by now, but to my surprise, after 30 mins monitoring, the midwife told me I was not in labour (without examining me) and I was to go home and try to sleep. Obviously she had never been in labour!!

With that I told her I knew things were happening and I would like to be checked over before going home, but she just said it wasn't hospital policy and there was no point because I probably wasnt even dilating yet.

I burst into tears and we went home. Back at home I went for a lay down and my husband did some gardening. After about an hour I was in so much pain that I decided I was going back to hospital.

As I got off the bed to call my husband my waters broke and I was stood rooted to the spot in a pair of dripping wet jeans and a puddle of water at my feet.

I screamed at Phil to come and help but typically being a man he didn't hear so I had to waddle downstairs to get him, then we made a mad dash to hospital.

All the way to hospital I wanted to push and was terrified of giving birth in the car. Whilst we were coming up to a roundabout, I wasn't sure I could hold on and sat staring out the window of the car at the lorry driver next to us who was giving me some rather odd looks.

Strangely at this time all I could think was, "Oh my God that lorry driver is going to see me naked" .

Thankfully we made it to hospital where Phil parked outside A and E and ran in to get someone to help me, all this time I was trying to get out of the car and as it was visiting time there were loads of people around who were just watching me but I didn't care.

After what seemed like an eternity 2 midwives came running out to me and tried to take me into the cubicles at the back of casualty to give birth there.

I lied and told them that I couldn't feel an urge to push so would be fine to get upstairs. Halfway up in the lift I was shouting that I could feel the baby coming and as we got out of the lift I shouted it again.

As the midwives were sprinting through the corridors with me in the wheelchair, one of the dads from my daughter's school was walking out of the operating theatre where he works. At that point I was so embarrassed, I hadn't banked on seeing anyone I knew.

I arrived on delivery suite at 3.32 pm Phil parked the car and got to delivery at 3.40 pm and Isaac James Lawrence was born at 3.44pm weighing 9lb 6oz - less than 2 hours after being told I wasn't in labour.

I was pretty traumatised for a while about how quick things happened and how he was nearly born in the car but now I look back on it and laugh because I think I must have looked like a mad woman!'

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