Ivy looked up and tears instantly welled in her eyes as she held her hand out to her friend.

‘Blimey, I ain’t half glad to see you,’ she welcomed her in a wobbly voice. ‘This givin’ birth don’t half hurt.’

Holly grasped her hand. It was hot and sweaty and Ivy looked exhausted. She started to pant then and the nurse told her, ‘Lie back down now, there’s a good girl, and I’ll have a peep at what’s happening.’ Ivy sank back against the damp pillows, her face chalky white as the midwife lifted the sheet and peered beneath it.

‘Ah.’ She smiled with satisfaction. ‘I think we’re almost there. Now on the next pain I want you to push down when I tell you. Do you think you can do that?’

Ivy gave a feeble nod and as the next excruciating contraction built she winced and clamped her mouth tightly shut but she didn’t cry out loud. Beads of sweat stood out on her forehead and dribbled into her eyes and Holly had never felt so useless in her life. She had assisted midwives on a number of deliveries in the maternity ward back at the hospital but she realised now that it was a different thing entirely when it was someone you cared about giving birth.

‘Right now,’ the midwife urged encouragingly. ‘Push with all your might!’

Ivy’s chin rested on her chest as she did her best to do as she was told but her strength was waning now. Even so the midwife seemed pleased with her effort. ‘That’s it, good girl, now rest till the next one comes along and then I want you to do the same again.’

The same process was repeated seconds later and this time the woman smiled her approval. ‘Well done, Ivy. I can see the baby’s head now. You’re almost there.’

‘I … I don’t think I can push any more,’ Ivy whimpered. She was clutching Holly’s hand so tightly that it had turned white.

‘Of course you can,’ the midwife told her in a no-nonsense sort of voice. ‘One more mighty push should do it and it’ll all be over, then you can meet your baby.’

‘You can do it,’ Holly told her, adding her voice to the midwife’s. ‘Come on, Ivy, don’t let us down.’

And so as the pain became so bad that Ivy was sure it was going to rent her in two, Ivy made one last gargantuan effort and was rewarded when she felt something slither out of her into the midwife’s waiting hands.

Holly dared to look then as tears of joy streamed down her face. ‘Oh, Ivy, you’ve got a little girl and she’s beautiful,’ she breathed as the nurse laid the child on the bed. She quickly cut the cord and it was only then that Holly realised with a shock that was like a smack in the face that the child wasn’t crying.

Ivy must have realised it at the same time because she lifted her head weakly and swiping the sweat from her eyes she shrieked, ‘Why isn’t she crying? What’s wrong?’