When I was pregnant, my husband and I had our minds set on a natural childbirth. We watched my weight, baby's weight, ate healthy, exercised and a whole lot more.

When I was one month away from my due date, the doctor told me that my baby was in the labour position and it would be any day now. One week before the due date, I had a lot of false contractions. I even had some a few minutes apart but they ended up being false alarms. Nearer to the due date, I had an odd feeling as I feared he would miss the due date.

I tried drinking lots of chicken essence, dancing and exercising in the hope of speeding up labour. I was told that I would know if I was going into labour if I was spotting or if my water broke. I spent the last week in anticipation of these signs.

On Sept 21, 2011, at 12midnight I started having contractions, but they were not slow to fast, they were immediate and two minutes apart. So, I waited for the signs, but my tummy hurt so much that I even threw up. At 8am, my husband forced me to go to the hospital. We were so happy when the doctor said I was already 6cm dilated. But, then, the doctor noticed my water bag had not broken and I was not spotting despite being ready for labour.

He checked my son's heart rate and found that it was slowing down. I will never forget the look on my doctor's face that day. He waited for my husband to come and then said there's something worrying and that he needed to break my water bag in front of him.

My doctor broke my water bag to reveal green liquid and he said that my son had passed motion in my womb and I needed to stop the urge to push (which was very hard). Finally, I had to go through an emergency C-section and even my husband was not allowed in. It was a 10-minute operation and I then saw my son safe and sound. When the doctor showed my son to me, and my son squeaked, I felt a sense of relief that he was safe.

Yoghi