Billie Ward was warned she probably wouldn’t give birth on her due date so thought her tummy pains were a false alarm.
She said: "[The day before the birth] I had a few pains at 5am. There was nothing too abnormal but I'd been having these pains for a few days.
"I was also booked in for a sweep on the day, but the midwife had said 'oh no, your cervix isn't favourable. You've got to shorten it and you're not going to have your baby on your due date'.
"At 6pm that night I was having period-type pains, it wasn't abnormal or anything that concerned me.
"I came downstairs at 3.45am. I was biting down on the sofa because I could feel this pain and genuinely thought it was a poo.”
The 22-year-old had been in pain and straining on the loo for around an hour before calling 999.
She was astonished when the operator told her she was most likely giving birth – especially as her mum Liesa Allcock and husband Josh, 24, had a 'look', and couldn’t see any baby signs.
Billie, from Bridgnorth, Shropshire, said: "By this point, no waters had broken. Every time I pushed, I thought 'I don't know what that was'. I'd never had a baby…
"I rang 999 at 4.45am, it was not okay. I was biting down and scratching myself because I was in so much pain.
"My mum [Liesa Allcock, 45] had four C-sections so she'd never had a contraction either.
"I said to the ambulance woman 'I'm not sure, this could be a poo. But I'm in a lot of pain’.”
The trio remained unsure as Billie's waters had still not broken – but called in the paramedics.
Billie recalled: ”My husband said 'do you want me to take you to hospital?' They said 'let her stay at home where she is'. It's not great living in the middle of nowhere.
"My husband rang my mum and said 'I think she's giving birth' and she rushed over. Luckily, she only lives down the road so she drove up.
"I asked Josh to look and he said 'no, there's nothing there' and my mum said 'I can feel something but it doesn't feel like a head'.
"The paramedics said 'keep yourself calm. If you need to push, just go for it'."
The medical team arrived at 5.05am and found Billie on her bathroom floor with her worried mum, before little baby Arete arrived at 5.10am.
Billie said: "The woman ran up the stairs and said 'if you give one push, the baby's going to be here'. She gave me gas and air after I gave birth as my body was in shock, I was shaking.
"Because of how quickly I went into labour, my waters didn't break. My body wasn't prepared.
"The paramedic just pulled the sac away from her. Apparently, it's quite lucky to have a baby on their due date and still in their sac.
"The first thing Josh said was 'I think I need to get a coffee'. I think he was in so much shock.
"He was like 'oh my god, what has just happened in my bathroom. I've been awake 10 minutes'."
Thankfully it was “sheer relief” when Billie welcomed her little one into the world.
The full-time student was pictured after she gave birth and a paramedic was tending to her on her bathroom floor.
She’s since decided to share the candid snap to help other mums spot signs of labour.
Billie said: "My mum took so many photos. There's some where I'm thinking 'oh my god, what is happening? This is not a poo, this is a baby'.
"My message [to other mums] would be 'listen to your body'. Your body is doing what it's meant to do. It will take over.
"People get so overwhelmed but your body is an amazing thing. Let it take its course.
"Don't go to hospital too early - but definitely don't leave it too late. It's a mess you don't want to be cleaning up. The number of towels we went through was insane.”
Even though Billie wasn’t planning on a home birth, she says she’d do it again.
She added: "It was the most amazing experience of my life - so much so I'm planning a second home birth. It's a good story to tell when Arete's older..
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