The urge to push was now completely overwhelming me.
‘Call an ambulance!’ I yelled at my confused boyfriend. ‘I’m pushing! My body is pushing and I can’t stop it!’
I was still convinced I wasn’t in active labor and that I needed to try and suppress this urge to push as much as I could. I was terrified I was going to cause serious damage to myself or my baby if I allowed myself to push when I was only 3cm dilated.
The operator on the phone spoke to us calmly. She said to my boyfriend, ‘You’re going to have to deliver the baby.’ Adrenaline shot through my body. This couldn’t be happening. She urged me to get off the toilet, saying the baby was about to be born and I needed to lie down on the floor to start pushing.
Instead of lying on the floor, which felt completely unnatural to me, I squatted on the bathroom floor. ‘You need to push with your contractions,’ the woman on the phone said calmly. I started to scream. I was convinced I was going to die, that I couldn’t do this on my own.
