Three babies with only a twinge

CANDICE SHER, 48, left, is a teaching assistant. She is divorced and lives in northamptonshire with her children hugo, eight, Cooper, seven, and isla, five. She says:

NONE of the doctors and nurses could believe how painlessly and quickly I had each baby. One of the more experienced midwives said she’d never seen anything like it in her long career. I barely felt a thing and gave birth to each in minutes.

I always knew I had a high pain threshold because I’ve broken bones in the past and had never been in agony with those, but when I first got pregnant with Hugo I was nervous about the birth.

I went into labour while shopping and felt a sharp twinge across my stomach, but I wouldn’t say it was painful. I carried on shopping then went home where I’d invited a friend around to tea. I said to her: ‘I think I might be in labour, but it’s fine, I’m Ok’. It wasn’t until I noticed the twinges getting more regular that I thought I should phone my husband at work and tell him to come home.

But when we phoned the hospital the midwives said I didn’t need to come in because I clearly wasn’t in that much pain because I could speak so well.

When we finally went to the hospital I was 3cm dilated so I went for a 10-minute walk and by the time I came back, I was 10cm. The midwives were shocked.

I got into the birthing pool and within three to four pushes, Hugo popped out like a rugby ball, still in the sac. With Cooper, it was similarly fast. I didn’t feel a thing, even when he crowned.

Isla’s birth was a little different. I was having a stressful time in my life and so my labour kept stopping and starting. But the actual birth only took ten or 15 minutes and I barely felt a thing.