Thanks to the IT genius Roz we are now on line - hooray! - and can begin the chronicling of the life of Elsie Mary, beautiful young lady born on December 13th 2005 to the proudest parents imaginable, Anna and Rob.

This is Elsie on the day she was born - perfectly formed and gorgeous, though somewhat red and wrinkly, despite 18 hours of trauma being born (trauma more for Anna than for Elsie it has to be said! Elsie was perfectly content throughout the whole thing apparently - nice for her!)

The first stage of labour was actually fine and manageable (for those of you not fully conversant in antenatal speak - the first stage of labour takes you from a normal ladylike cervix up to 10cm dilated, and the second stage is actually pushing the baby out of this still woefully inadequate hole). We had a birthing pool and had taken hypno birthing classes – so felt well prepared and positive going into whole thing. Rob and my mum were pillars of strength, we stayed calm and relaxed and I felt pretty in control for the 15 hours it took to get to 10cm.

It wasn’t until the second stage that the real hell began – Elsie’s hand was up by her head, increasing the circumference of that first dreadful bit to be pushed out. And also her umbilical cord was around her neck, not so that she was in any danger, but meaning that there wasn’t a lot of slack for her to move down.

So, it took 3 and a half hours to push her out (this stage normally lasts half an hour to an hour, or at least that’s what they told us at antenatal classes!) and was horrendous beyond measure – like being simultaneously stabbed by 1000 daggers and branded by 1000 red hot pokers. I still haven’t forgotten (like they say you do!) even after 7 weeks quite how horrendous it was. There was a real moment of clarity in the middle of all the agony where I thought ‘Whatever you do, don’t ever get yourself in this situation again.’ But then my daughter was born. Just writing that sentence now makes me want to cry (and I thought my hormones were getting back to normal…!)

She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and gets more beautiful, more interesting and more amazing every day. Doors in my heart have been opened that I never knew were there (and I can write sentences like that without feeling cheesy!) – when she smiles, when she laughs… I can’t describe how I feel when I look at her – it’s like really really loving someone, only more.

So, I would like to record these first few months of her life for posterity. So that all the people that love her, especially those who’ve disappeared to far flung places and can’t keep in touch so easily, can check on how she’s doing. And also so anyone else who’s interested can share the experiences of these formative days…