Our little island baby is here! Hercules made an unexpectedly swift entry into the world at the end of November.

The last weeks of pregnancy passed in a haze of appointments trying to make Hercules turn from a breech position to head-down, ready for a natural birth. Pilates, yoga, endless walking, even a climb to the top of St Hilarion Castle – nothing was budging him.

I tried hanging upside-down off the sofa a few times a day, lying inverted along a propped-up ironing board, doing supported headstands. Everything that the Spinning Babies website suggested.

I listened to hypnotherapy MP3s designed to turn breech babies. I had six sessions of Moxibustion at the Chinese Medical Centre of Cyprus in Limassol. I even had a glass of mulled wine on Bonfire Night in the desperate hope that it would relax my muscles and create space for Herc to turn. Ha!

The problem was, I’d left it too late. I should have started trying to turn him at 30 weeks when there was still room in my uterus, not 35 weeks. Only 3% of babies are still breech by 38 weeks and I just assumed Herc would turn when he was ready.

But then I met the Birth Forward group at a baby show. Birth Forward educates mums and dads about birth to empower them to make informed decisions about the birth of their child. I was surprised to hear that Cyprus has one of the highest Caesarean Section rates in Europe. Over half of births are C-Sections – and Baby Herc was about to be one of them. My obstetrician had already booked my C-Section date, refusing to attempt to do an ECV to turn Herc manually. Time was running out.

Birth Forward put me in touch with their president, Eline Pedersen, who is a chiropractor. I drove to Larnaca and back twice a week for sessions where she loosened ligaments, realigned things, relaxed other things – all to make space for Herc to turn.

But he wasn’t budging.

Then, 4 days before my C-Section, Eline got me an appointment with Andreas Mavrides at the Isis Clinic in Nicosia. He scanned me and agreed to do an ECV. In less than two minutes he did what I’d spent a month trying to do. He turned Herc.

My C-Section was cancelled a day before it was due to take place. Baby Hercules arrived by himself six days later at the Ygia Polyclinic in Limassol.

Since his arrival, our days have passed in a happy, sleep-deprived haze of endless breastfeeding, chocolate Hobnobs, nappy changing and lots and lots of cuddles. Herc has been given a ‘proper’ name – though for us, he will always be known as Herc as well.

For six years we have been a family of three, making special memories together. Now we are a family of four – and I can’t wait to make more memories with the newest and tiniest member of our family.