Written by Alex King - Women's health nutritionist

A little bit of context before I start. I was part of the MGP (Midwifery Group Practice) program at The Royal Hospital for Women, which meant I had the same midwife throughout my pregnancy and birth. As part of the program I had the option for a home birth, which was always the plan if my pregnancy stayed low risk and I met the hospital criteria. My pregnancy did stay low risk, but at the last minute I no longer met the requirements, so our plans changed pretty quickly.

Friday 20th March, around 9.30pm, I started getting contractions. I was completely in denial that it could actually be labour and tried to ignore them for the night. I could not ignore them.

I was waking every 10 minutes with contractions that lasted around 45 seconds to a minute, needing to brace myself on something to get through them, but I still didn't believe they were "real" contractions.

I felt really alone through the night. I didn't want to wake Dane because I knew we could have a long road ahead. I remember desperately waiting for the sun to come up and for it to be daytime again.

Throughout Saturday the contractions continued every 10 minutes but weren't getting closer together, so I knew things weren't really progressing yet. Dane and I tried to distract ourselves — I made lasagne and he made a chocolate tart. I put the tens machine on Saturday afternoon as I felt I needed something. It gave me something to focus on with the contractions but I didn't love it.

Just before midnight on Saturday I lost my mucous plug and with it some fresh blood. I sent a photo to my midwife thinking it was normal, but because it was fresh blood and quite a lot of it, it was actually considered a haemorrhage.

Sunday morning one of the MGP midwives came to check on me and bub. Bub's heart rate was perfect and the position was good. She gave me exercises to try and move things along.

I did the Miles Circuit and Spinning Babies exercises and my contractions came closer together for about 30 minutes... then went straight back to every 8-10 minutes.

Later that day she suggested we come into hospital for a check because I had been in labour for such a long time. I felt relieved, but also devastated because deep down I knew this probably meant I wasn't going to get my homebirth.

I had nothing packed. We quickly threw bags together while Dane took Louie upstairs for our neighbours to watch.

When we got to the hospital I burst into tears. I was exhausted and felt disappointed. My midwife gave me the biggest cuddle when she arrived and gave us some time before we spoke about what to do next.

The OB examined me and thought the bleeding was coming from my cervix but she couldn't be 100%. She suggested breaking my waters, which I wasn't ready for, so we agreed to wait but stay in hospital.

My beautiful midwife got us a room, brought us some cheese toasties, sleeping tablets and codeine so I could hopefully rest. I genuinely thought I was about to get some sleep... absolutely delusional.

Not long later I had another contraction and felt more blood come out. I sent a photo to my midwife and within minutes she was back in the room saying the OB wanted to break my waters and get things moving.

Before that, she checked me. I was 4-5cm. To me this felt HUGE because somehow I was still in denial that I was actually in labour.

I felt exhausted, emotional and completely out of control. None of the options being discussed were things I had ever really considered for my birth. I remember feeling so sad.

At one point I even asked if I should have a c-section because I was terrified of the cascade of interventions ending in one anyway.

I'm so grateful for my beautiful midwife and the OB. They gently talked me through things without pressure and reminded me that a hospital birth could still be a beautiful birth. I gathered myself together and made some decisions.

By this point I was beyond exhausted, so I decided to have an epidural before my waters were broken. Honestly, it was the biggest relief. I finally felt like myself again. Dane and I were laughing together while we waited and it felt so nice to reconnect after such an emotional few days.

Around 2am my midwife broke my waters — and I was already 9-10cm. I remember thinking... cool, probably could have skipped the epidural. But I don't regret that decision, it was what I felt I needed at the time.

The second she broke my waters I could tell something was wrong. She looked at me and said, "I'm going to press this button and a lot of people are about to come into the room."

Within seconds the room was full. My legs were in stirrups and she kept saying, "You're having this baby right now."

Turns out Andie had descended so quickly that the monitor lost her heart rate because it was no longer sitting in the right spot. Once they found it again everything was fine, but it was intense. The team were incredible.

After things settled, they left us for a few hours to allow "passive descent" and let bub move further down the birth canal.

At 7.30am it was finally time to push. I was on all fours holding onto a blanket over the back of the bed, still able to feel the pressure of contractions despite the epidural. I remember feeling so vulnerable at first, like everyone in the room was watching me do a big poo, but eventually I stopped caring and just gave it everything I had.

The pressure was INSANE but I was also so excited. I kept asking, "How much longer? Is the head out yet?"

I definitely knew when the head was out. It felt incredible.

I waited for the next contraction and pushed her body out. The relief was instant and unreal. The student midwife untangled the cord from around her neck and passed her through my legs to me. She was so little and slippery, and she had orange hair, so unexpected and so special.

We didn't know the sex, and originally Dane was going to announce it, but the second I held her I had to look myself. A little girl, the best surprise of our lives. I'll never forget this moment, looking at our baby, then looking at Dane. Our family.

We were both convinced she was a boy.

That moment felt like pure magic. After 60 hours of labour in total, interventions, exhaustion and uncertainty, our beautiful baby girl was finally here in my arms.

Find Alex on Instagram @_alexandraking

Or on her website www.alexandraking.com.au