Katie Elizabeth, 6lb 15, 1.51am 21.10.09

My notes say that established labour began at 12.15 am. I won't say it didn't smart, but I was lucky, it wasn't as bad I expect it can be; the blessings of a small, cooperative baby. Gas and air was making me very nauseaous so we just got on with it, with the help of breathing tips from my sister. My midwife offered me a cup of tea, but never got time to make it. My waters were broken at 1.21 am. She told me 'it's ok, this is as painful as it gets'... as Katie's head crowned, I told her she'd lied. At about 1.45, she told me I could feel the top of the baby's head. There baby (Katie) was, head half out, and I could still feel her wriggling and kicking inside me.

At 1.51am, there she was. My little girl, snuggled into me under a towel. She only cried for a second, until she cuddled in. Noone told me she was a girl, I didn't look under the towel. I was sure though that she was my little Katie.

By 2.00am she was rooting and took to feeding immediately. For an hour and a half she fed away. We tried to ring people to tell them, but all the parents were asleep. It happened so quickly that none of them were expecting it! The only person we could talk to was my best friend in Australia!

Having filled herself right up, they took Katie and weighed her- I'm sure that huge feed helped the healthy 6lb 15 she was recorded as weighing at birth! She was just across the room but I didn't like her being that far from me. The midwife dressed her and I wanted that to be me doing it. She was bundled up and laid in the crib, where she put her fingers in her mouth and soothed herself to sleep. I had a (very wobbly) shower, with some help but made the shower room very wet repeatedly going back to check on her. All I wanted was to be there, to protect her, to not miss a second.

At 4.30am, her and I were transferred to the maternity ward. I lay watching her for the next 2 hours, by the light of a small torch as the night light by my bed didn't work. She was so peaceful, so perfect - the bruises and swelling didn't matter to me. She didn't fit her skin yet, it was too big. But she was the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen.

The next 12 hours were wonderful. She slept, waking only when the doctor came and checked her. She didn't cry, just looked around and passed all her tests with flying colours, including turning and lifting her own head. She was really sick, bringing up mucus all day. But she didn't mind. The midwife insisted on me trying to feed her midafternoon, but she wasn't interested. It's the only time in her life she wouldn't latch on, and we both got very upset as this midwife tugged me around, tugged her around until another, kinder one, told her to leave us be, the baby clearly wasn't ready to feed. Katie went back to sleep and fed when she was ready. With no probems at all.

All day my phone was going with messages of congratulations. In that first day, we received over 200 messages and I felt so warm from the amount of love that surrounded my little girl. I was delighted when my parents arrived later for their first cuddles and they were still there when my sister came with my nieces. She came from 50 miles away, in driving rain and sleet because the girls had never seen a newborn.

My nieces were fascinated. Who could blame them? I certainly was.