Worrying about giving birth is common, and so is worrying about taking your driving test. Poor Lauren Roberts had to cope with both at the same time...
Were you nervous about your driving test?
Funnily enough I wasn't very nervous. I was really keen to pass before I had my baby but I was feeling quite OK about it.
I had been taking lessons for about a year and my instructor and I were finally confident I could pass my test.
Luckily I had a few weeks before I was due to give birth and I knew things would be so much easier if I could drive once the baby was here. I just had to keep my fingers crossed.
The man giving me the test was laughing when he first saw me arrive at the centre. He told me that he had had a woman who was 40 weeks pregnant taking her test the day before, but I didn't look as big as her so he wasn't worried that I would give birth in his car.
I had felt a bit funny that morning, but I didn't think it was anything to worry about and put it down to nerves about the test. As I drove around I was trying to concentrate on my driving, but the pain was getting worse and I was starting to realise that I might be having the baby!
I half thought that I was just imagining things and being silly, but the other half of me was getting more concerned.
Did you ask to stop the test?
When we stopped by the side of the road I told the test instructor that I thought I might be in labour. I said I wanted to carry on anyway, but he advised me to stop the test and go back to the test centre. Unfortunately, it turned out that I had failed because I didn't overtake a bus. I'm not sure what the instructor thought, or if he even believed me, because I was being very calm about it all.
And then what happened?
I went home and then went into hospital that evening where they confirmed that I was having the baby. It wasn't a straightforward birth unfortunately.
When I pushed, the heart rate of the baby dropped, and they began to prepare for an emergency caesarean. The doctor decided this wouldn't work and instead chose to get the baby out with forceps. Afterwards they told me I had had a placental abruption, which can be very dangerous, so we had been very lucky.
What was the hospital like?
It was OK overall, but some of the midwives seemed like they needed more training. They had a new machine to put me onto a drip and nobody could figure out how to turn it on or how to do the maths to get the dose right. Then they couldn't find their old machine. It wasn't very reassuring! Having said that, some of the other midwives were great.
And how was your baby?
Yes he was fine! Meeting him made up for failing the driving test. I didn't really have the chance to be disappointed about it.
Have you missed being able to drive?
Definitely. But I have another test booked so we'll see how I do next time...