Back to work now so a delay in posting, sorry! Thank you all for your kind reviews and PMs, you're all so encouraging. Thank you. I have 100% cheated in this scene and basically written my own labour and delivery!

Chapter 13

I'm one day over my due date. My daughter hasn't got the memo and she is late. LATE. And I am huge. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed pregnancy, I've been glowing and beautiful but she is late now and she's taking the piss. Mummy wants to not be the size of an actual horse now.

I've tried it all. Pineapple, sex, spicy curries, raspberry tea – nothing is getting her out. Ranger is indulgent and zen while I whine that she needs to come out. He smiles and looks amused and gives me a kiss. He thinks I'm being dramatic. He should trying carrying a human in his body and see how dramatic he feels!

It was 2am and the apartment was quiet and dark. Ranger was out for the count after several long days and long nights with not much sleep. Luckily he has now wrapped up a big government contract so he's got plenty of down time coming. I made my way into the new kids room, it had a turtle toy which I loved that played soothing sea sounds and projected lights like the waves rising and falling on the wall.

I made myself a cup of decaf tea and a slice of toast.

I felt something odd almost feel like it popped. I went to the toilet and my waters started to trickle out. I caught a sample and checked the waters looked ok. Black bits in the waters showed signed of fetal distress. The waters were all ok. I waited 15 minutes until they had stopped trickling and put on a maternity pad instead.

I went back into the kids area and rang the hospital to explain my waters had broke. They weren't worried and told me to pop in for a check in at 8am. I was excited that something was happening but I didn't want to wake Ranger yet, he needed his sleep.

Half an hour later and I was definitely cramping, enough that sleep was off the cards. I sat in the darkness with the gentle sounds of the sea and the light of the turtle as I sat and bounced on the birthing ball.

Ranger had gotten me some hypnobirthing tapes, though I was dubious - Ranger said he was confident that the mind had great effect on the body so anything to help was worth a try. The cramps were strengthening now, though they were still far enough apart. I used my breathing exercises as they started to strengthen.

I was using the hypnobirthing now. Breathe in I relax, Breathe out I feel strong. I counted my breaths on my fingers and focused on that touch and the count as the discomfort increased.

At 6.30am the contractions were coming thick and fast. I went and woke Ranger.

"Wake up." I said, "I'm in labour."

He blinked once, "are you sure?"

"Well my waters have broken and I've been contracting for hours. So yeah, pretty sure." I might have sounded a little cranky but the pain was starting to wear a bit thin.

Ranger leapt out of the bed and was pulling his clothes on at super speed. He grabbed my maternity bag and started to head out.

"The baby chair." I pointed out.

He grabbed the baby's car seat and we hustled. I had a contraction in the lift. By the time we go to the garage and walked to the car I was having another contraction.

"Shit Steph, these are really close together."

No shit, I thought, concentrating on breathing through them. When it was over I got into the car but it was so uncomfortable to sit down.

"Hurry." I urged.

Ranger had us in the Porsche Cayenne, the family friendly Porsche, but it still roared as we headed to the hospital.

At the lights I turned to Ranger. "I can't do this." I said firmly.

"Yes you can." He reassured me. "You're going through transition. You can do it." He speed dialled someone on his Bluetooth. My mom. "Steph's going through transition, the baby is going to be here soon. Really soon. Get to the hospital." He repeated the phone call to his parents.

We pulled up in front of the women's building.

I had a contraction out of the car, and a contraction after we had taken 6 steps. It took nearly 5 minutes for us to make it 15 yards.

I held onto Ranger as I groaned against the last contraction.

Someone opened a window a few floors up. "Everything ok?" They shouted down.

Ranger nodded, "They're expecting us."

A grandmother walked past us. "Keep it up lovey, I did it 6 times. You can do it."

I didn't give a fig how many times she had done it. The one time was definitely enough for me.

Finally we made it into the actual building. "Stephanie Manoso." Ranger said, "I called ahead."

The nurse was looking at a chart. She didn't look up at as she replied, "Right no problem, we're expecting you. Just wait a moment."

I stared at her. I pulled down my trousers. "I need to push." I said, as if this was normal.

"Calm down love." The nurse said, putting down her charts she bent down to examine me. "Oh heck, she's right." She raised her voice. "I need a trolley!"

Someone dragged a trolled over and suddenly I was on it being wheeled through the building. Ranger was holding my hand. When the bed stopped moving I got onto all fours and started pushing. I listened to the midwifes and pushed when they said push.

In minutes, her cries filled the air.

"Reach down," The midwife instructed. And there she was. Blood covered and with a weird milky film on her skin, her face all scrunched up and perfect and beautiful. "Hello Isabel." I said to my daughter happily. "I have loved you forever." I held her to me and knew I'd remember this forever.

The midwives wrapped a towel round her to keep her warm and clamped the cord. They handed Ranger some scissors and Ranger cut the cord. Isabel was whisked away for cleaning and weighing whilst I delivered the after birth.

"4.1kg." I was told, by the nurse as she handed Isabel back to me.

Because my delivery had been wholly natural with no drugs, Isabel was alert and ready to feed. It took a few tries to get her latched but then we got it.

After she'd had a feed I passed her to Ranger, who held her smiling with tears standing in his eyes. He looked up at me, and smiled, Thank you. He mouthed to me. I smiled back, tears welling in my own eyes.

I would never forget that moment for as long as I lived. Our daughter was here, and the rest of our lives could begin.