It all began when I finished working in a very stressful environment. I decided to leave and happily this conincided with a family holiday. Once we were away on the Isle of Wight (paradise eh?!), I felt the weight lift from my shoulders. We went with my parents, my brother and his two children. They all stayed in the lap of luxury in my parents' caravan and we camped on the next pitch in our tent! All well and good but it was on a cliff top and to say it was windy is a bit of an understatement! Anyway, that's where Zac was conceived and as I didn't like either Isle of Wight or Brighstone as a name for our baby, we opted not to follow in Posh and Beck's footsteps and name him after the place of conception!

I didn't have any major problems during my pregnancy although I did have a few little ones. I had a low lying placenta to begin with – thankfully it grew up with the walls of the womb as the pregnancy progressed – and also several episodes of bleeding. This coupled with the fact that none of my friends were pregnant at the time and were still going out dancing and drinking meant that I spent most of the pregnancy moaning! It's very hard to dance with a big, heavy bump and I became expert at making half of a pint of cider last me an entire evening! Not to mention engaging in the strange practice of sniffing my friends' drinks! [I am not an alcoholic! Honest!]

At 39 weeks pregnant I was taken into hospital because of more bleeding. It was Friday 12 May. My baby was due on the following Monday. The midwives monitored the baby for what seemed like an eternity! The bleed gradually slowed down and stopped and so I was sent home the next day and told to rest. I spent that evening at the cinema watching Gladiator with Russell Crowe. Probably not one of my better ideas!

Sunday morning dawned and I found to my dismay that the bleeding had gotten heavier again and in a state of panic I was admitted to hospital again. The midwives decided that I should be induced and on Sunday evening (the day before the baby was due) I was given a stretch and sweep (bleugh!) whilst a pessary was inserted. One word - OUCH! - and I was then told that another would be inserted the following morning. Hurrah! So much to look forward to. I had very stern words with my child that night and willed my baby out of there!

Monday morning arrived and still my bump had not budged. My contractions had virtually stopped but because the labour ward was so busy, my induction was put 'on hold'. Apparently because of the bleeding I needed to have a midwife in attendance as much as possible and there wasn't one available.

The bleeding got steadily worse throughout the day and on Monday evening they could delay no more and they took me down to the labour ward and broke my waters at 8.20pm.

The real contractions started straight away (I mean literally before I had time to get off the bed!) and were only a couple of minutes apart from the start. After using gas and air for two hours I begged for an epidural which thankfully was administered and the next two hours were more or less plain sailing. The contractions weren't painful anymore but I had been told that there was still a lip of cervix which needed to thin out so couldn't push yet and I was having trouble holding my baby IN! I desperately wanted to push.

Finally at 12.18am on Tuesday 16 May 2000, and almost exactly four hours after my waters were broken, my baby boy was delivered. We named him Zac Gary and he weighed in at 7lb 7oz.

I continued to bleed after the birth and eventually needed a four pint blood transfusion! Zac was a very good boy though and seemed to know that mummy wasn't well, he hardly cried for two days which was just as well because I couldn't get out of bed!!

We managed to breastfeed for 8 months – which after the initial couple of weeks was very easy, convenient, cheap and gave us a very special bond