The Birth of Elsa Surya Fisher

It was 4am on Saturday morning and I was woken partly by persistent Braxton-Hicks contractions, but also just by a strange sense of alertness. This was doubled when I walked out into a magically bright sunny garden, and it was only then that | realised it was midsummer's day – the longest day of the year, this year with clear blue skies and sunshine.

Could this be it? I had gone to bed the night before with a commitment to spend the next day recovering from a terrible cold, while my husband Mat took our son JJ to a birthday party. I could feel that the birth was approaching, despite another week to go before my due date. But today?

I found that the contractions had got stronger since being up: I stood rolling my hips to ease them. At a certain point I decided to go back to bed, convincing myself it was premature and I was being oversensitive. But when going to bed just seemed to slow things down, I realised the contractions weren't going to go away, and I might as well encourage a speedy delivery! So finally at 6am I admitted that I was in labour and woke up Mat. We had agreed to call Laura and Jane immediately since my first birth had been fast. My mother, who lives above us, had also agreed to look after JJ when he woke up. So Mat and I were left to find our rhythm: with each contraction I would hang round his neck as he held my lower back. We built up such a strong connection and powerful routine that when Laura and Jane quietly crept in (we had left the door on the latch), we asked them to leave us to it, once they had checked the baby's heartbeat! For the remainder of my first stage of labour, I am aware of them appearing and disappearing as if by magic when they were needed. I was amazed to read their notes after the birth and discover that they had been carefully monitoring me and the baby when I had hardly been aware of their presence!

When I started to push, we called them in and they made a nest of duvets and pillows behind where I was still standing holding Mat's neck. Their presence was now very reassuring in the intensity of second stage labour. I managed to breath through the powerful bearing down of the contractions – my body had never felt so wide open! When my baby's head and shoulders emerged, Jane and Laura guided my hands down to catch her, and I sat down on my nest of pillows holding all 8lbs10oz of Elsa Surya at 8.37am!

We were wrapped in warm towels and allowed to enjoy the magic of the moment. There's nothing to describe looking into the wide-open eyes of the little person, who until then had been a growing wriggling bump inside me! I squatted on a birthing stool to deliver the placenta, Mat cut the cord, and then we all got into bed with tea and toast! My mother and son were called down from their breakfast to join the party: my son's idea of childbirth is something that happens while he finishes his cornflakes!

One experience clearly brought home to me the importance of giving birth in an environment and with people that you trust completely. When my son woke up at 7am, I was already in full labour, but had wanted to go in and see him to reassure him before he went upstairs. I noticed that while I was in his room, the contractions continued, but immediately became much lighter and less effective, until I returned to the focus and routine of my room. I was struck by how clearly disruptive a move to hospital, or the presence of unfamiliar people would have been for me. In the end, I felt hugely empowered for having been so present and so much in charge for the whole of my labour. It was so special to have been something that Mat and I did together, completely united in this other-worldly place of birth! The experience left us all on a natural high that carried us through the next few sleepless days (and weeks!) I cannot imagine a more peaceful start to life, a more beautiful birth, or midwives I would rather have shared it with.