11lb baby in an hour

I WAS dismayed by the account of the mother who had a horrible birth with a 10lb baby (Mail). My fourth was a home birth that started with the first contraction at 7.30am and within an hour i had given birth to an 11lb baby, had a cup of tea and the midwife had gone home to get her own family off to school.

i am 5ft 2in and, when not pregnant, i had a 26in waist and 34in hips.

i count myself lucky. if i was having my children today, scans of a large baby would have engendered panic. i would have been medicalised and certainly not been allowed a home birth. PAT ELLISON-REED,

Glossop, Derbys. MY SON was born in 1959 weighing 11lb 12oz at home with the assistance of the local midwife — once she had been located, as we had no phone at home in those days.

M. FOLEY, Loughton, essex.