Karen Taylor tells her birth story: 'I only did a pregnancy test to put my mind at rest, seeing as my period was about a week late. It had never even occurred to me that it could be positive.
When it did show that I was pregnant, I woke up my partner Murray (it was 7 o'clock on a Sunday morning) and made him go 20 miles to the nearest shop that was open at that time to get another test!
When we went for the first scan, the midwife told us that the baby was due on the 12th March. I phoned my mum to tell her, and she said that I had been due on the 12th March as well, but I was 8 days late.
Apart from morning sickness that lasted from 8 weeks to about 15 weeks, my pregnancy progressed with no problems. At 34 weeks I found out my baby was lying back to back, so spent the next 2 weeks on my hands and knees trying to get baby to turn, which thankfully worked.
When my due date came and went, I was booked in for a membrane sweep, one on the 19th March and one on the 21st if nothing happened by then.
After the first sweep, I went home and had period-like tummy cramps throughout the day.
When Murray got home from work, he joked that he'd maybe better get an early night just in case the sweep worked, but I got him to stay up as I didn't think anything would happen anytime soon.
At about 9.45 that night, I had my first contraction, but I could still talk through it so didn't panic too much. I couldn't get to sleep though, as I became obsessed with counting the length and time between my contractions.
I phoned the hospital when there was about five minutes between contractions and they lasted about 30 seconds. I was told I could come in whenever I felt ready as they weren't busy that night. We headed in at about 1.30 in the morning.
At about 2.30 I was having minute long contractions every 3 minutes and wanted pain relief so the midwife examined me first, finding I was 3.5cm dilated. I was then given pethadine combined with gas and air.
I was checked again at 4m and was 8cm dilated, but my waters still hadn't broken. I was sitting on the bed and all of a sudden, I felt this gush and told the midwife that my waters had broken. Unknown to me, it wasn't my waters, but I was bleeding heavily.
It all became a bit surreal after that, but it seemed that I just opened my eyes and the room was full of people. An anaesthetist was inserting the needle to put a drip in my arm, and a surgeon was explaining that if I didn't have my baby soon that he would take over and I would have to have a c-section.
Another female doctor was arguing with him, saying that I would be giving birth to my baby by myself. At this point she broke my waters for me. All I felt was a scratching sensation and then it was such a relief.
I vividly remember Murray holding my hand and manically winking at me, he must have been petrified as nobody was telling him what was happening because everything was happening so fast.
I suddenly had the overwhelming urge to push, and three contractions later my baby girl was born at 6.20am, weighing 8lb 1oz.
The placenta arrived 20 minutes later, after one gentle push from me, and a tug from the midwife. I had a second degree tear, and was stitched up with a local and gas and air while we got to know Niamh Isla.
Murray nipped home to get some much needed sleep, while I had some time alone with my new daughter. It was only then that it occurred to me that she had been born 8 days late, on my 21st birthday!!
We got home that day at 5pm and had visitors round the following day, as we had asked for no visitors at the hospital while we adapted to being parents.'
