East

I've had a few tough challenges as a TV producer - filming sunken submarines at the bottom of the North Sea, tracking down Red Kite chicks 90 feet up a tree.

So when I was asked to capture the moment a baby was born I coolly said it would be no problem.

But oh boy, how wrong could I be!

Brave mums

Firstly there was the minor hurdle of finding two camera-friendly mums-to-be happy to have a six foot bloke burst into their house in the middle of the night and film one of their most intimate moments.

"I can't imagine who'd let you do that," my wife joked.

"It was bad enough having you around when our two were born"!

But they are a friendly lot in Suffolk and two brave volunteers - Pip Cook from Long Melford, expecting her third child and Angie Bentley from Sudbury, looking forward to baby number two, stepped up to the mark.

After filming ante-natal visits and admiring their expectant bumps the waiting began.

And that's the bit I'd forgotten - the waiting.

It was difficult enough with my own children, but having to go through that all again, never knowing when the call would come was unbearable.

The waiting game

I was on constant tenterhooks, ever ready to make a mad dash up the A12 from Essex.

I studied dates and third trimesters, but this wasn't an exact science, I had to be patient.

I've never been a great fan of mobile phones but for a month mine didn't leave my side - I slept with it and showered with it.

Baby love - Angie and her newborn baby.

I even had it sitting on my music stand while playing trombone with local bands.

We were inseparable and its constant presence began to raise eyebrows: "What's with the phone then Paul?"

"I'm waiting for a baby to be born - might need to dash any moment."

"Congratulations! I didn't know your wife was expecting…"

"No, she isn't, it's a woman up in Suffolk."

"Really?"

"Well no, actually its two women."

"Really???"

Unexpected call

All I knew from experience is that the call would come at the most unexpected time, but I was determined to be ready.

I even spent one night sleeping in a caravan just to be as close as possible to the action.

That night I lay shivering, willing the phone to ring, but inevitably it remained silent all night.

Of course when I did finally get the call I was totally unprepared.

Just a few minutes into a shoot about wildlife reserves in Essex, midwife Alison Littler was on the phone.

"Angie's having her baby now - you'd better come straight away."

We go through life hearing horror stories of marathon labours lasting for days on end, but it seemed we'd chosen the two fastest mums in the West, well West Suffolk anyway.

Angie Bentley delivered little Jack (five pounds five and a half oz before you ask) within four minutes of the midwife arriving.

Pip Cook's waters broke as Alison rang the doorbell and Willis, not quite so little at 8 pounds six oz, popped into the world just six minutes later.

I'd missed them both, but in the end I, and video journalist Felicity Simper, were privileged to capture something even more special - the extraordinary first hour of a new child's life.

Filming those first moments and the joy of the parents at their new offspring was truly magical.

Was it worth the wait?

Baby you bet it was.