Paula Radcliffe describes the 26-hour birth of daughter Isla

She's known for her ability to endure incredible physical pain during her marathon sprints, but Olympic medallist Paula Radcliffe says she wasn't prepared for the pain of labour.

In an interview with The Sun, Radcliffe talks about her 26-hour labour to give birth to her daughter Isla. ' I am used to handling pain and when I’m running my body works with me and things happen fast. But during the labour my body was blocking Isla at every turn.'

After a day of painful labour, Paul was told that her perineal muscles were too tight; 'then Isla got stuck on my coccyx bone so we had to try different positions to get her past that. Finally, I was told my pelvic bones were too close — Isla’s head was 10.3cm and they were 10.1cm — so in the end I had an episiotomy and a ventouse.

Paula says she's determined to breastfeed little Isla as long as she can; ' She’s doing really well on it and I don’t want to stop until she’s on solids. It’s the first time in my life I appreciate the need for a sports bra!'

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