Arthur was born at 12:11 p.m. on December 29th 2007 after what can only be described as a horrendous labour. It only took some 30 minutes after being fully dilated, but neither of the two epidurals I was given worked so I did the whole thing from start to finish with NO pain relief whatsoever.

Arthur got stuck with his shoulder in an impossible angle (shoulder dystocia). It's generally not good news but the midwife was amazing. His heart rate dropped and then they couldn't find it at all. The doctor was called but never came so I pushed like mad and the midwife put her hand in to turn him free. It turned out the umbillical cord was around his neck adding to the distress caused by him being stuck. He was completely purple when born and didn't start breathing until the midwife blew in his nose and gave him massage.

The pain was horrendous. I could barely feel the contractions because it felt like I was being stabbed and the knife twisted in my right buttock. The MW says that's because he was stuck and pressing some nerves. I screamed and cried like a mad woman. Never again!

Anyways, now to the statistics. Arthur didn't score brilliantly in his apgar, but I can't remember what it was. He's just fine now - though still very red-blue in colour due to the stressful birth and being stuck. He's a massive baby - 4560 gram, which is about 10 lbs. 55 centimetres long. I look at him and think htf did I have that inside me! Raven was 4 weeks by the time she was the size he is now! He looks nothing like Raven either. Well, he does, but he's bigger, obviously, and puffy and red atm. He's lovely, though

I hardly tore, so although I'm obviously tired and sore today, I'm much better than I was after Raven's birth. Adam and I stayed at the hospital last night in the after birth suite. Facilities at the hospital are brilliant - double bed, flat screen tv, food, clothes for baby and mum, cot, etc. etc. I'm sooo impressed. The QMC ante and post labour ward was grimy and dirty back when I had Raven and obviously Adam couldn't stay there with me neither before nor after the birth. The staff here compared to the ones in England - gosh, I can't even begin to explain.

Breastfeeding is going well - but then, I'm an experienced breastfeeder. Feels like I never stopped;)

Anyways, those were the words from me. I have a son! Can't believe the drama and how close we came to not having our beautiful baby boy with us safe and sound, but it does make us realise just how blessed we are.