"I was determined to have my third child naturally"

I had my third child naturally after having contractions for almost 24 hours. The hospital registrar wanted to deliver by caesarean but we refused. It was my partner's first child and he was very supportive. But after having my last two children whipped out of my belly — the first child when it got stuck after 12 hours; the second child after 18 hours. I wasn't going to do it a third time!

It seems the trouble with me is that my cervix thins but I don't dilate until the baby's head starts to crown and my waters only break when the baby is close to being born. So they prefer to take the baby out via caesarean in case I don't dilate past three centimetres (which isn't uncommon with a lot of women).

Natalie