CLAMMY and sweating, Michelle Reynolds feels her heart racing – and summons every scrap of her willpower to stop herself from screaming.

She is listening to a friend describing the birth of her baby, and the 41-year-old’s phobia has kicked in.

Like 14 per cent of women, Michelle suffers tokophobia, a pathological fear of childbirth.

And the number affected is growing — a rise some experts blame on the graphic accounts available online.

Speaking at the British Science Festival last week, University of Hull midwifery lecturer Catriona Jones said: “If you go online into any of the Mumsnet forums there are women telling their stories of childbirth — ‘It was terrible’, ‘It was a bloodbath’ — and that can be quite frightening for women to engage with.”

Married Michelle, a former sales assistant, says the phobia means she will never be a mum.

She says: “The thought of giving birth absolutely terrifies me. I’ve heard so many harrowing stories from friends.

“The whole idea of giving birth and being a parent just doesn’t work for me.”

Michelle, who lives in Bournemouth with her husband Jamie, a recycling manager, adds: “The pain, the crying, the screaming, the blood. It makes me feel anxious and panicky. I feel a need to run away from it.

“Also, one of my friends recounted that she ‘tore’ really badly and had to have a lot of stitches, it was really traumatic.

“It doesn’t seem natural — it all sounded like a nightmare. Many told me they thought they were going to die, how their labour went on for days and they’d never felt pain like it.

“It filled me with a deep fear and even now makes me feel scared just thinking about it.” But Michelle believes her phobia dates from hearing horror stories from mums as a child.

She says: “I remember being around six years old and overhearing conversations with mums at the school gates. They were talking openly about how painful birth was and how it went on for hours. That really scared me.

“My fear slowly developed in my early teens, as I started watching characters giving birth in soaps like EastEnders.

“The scenes involved women screaming, shouting, crying, blood everywhere and people fainting. Everyone in the room was always in a blind panic.

“It made me panic too. I remember thinking, ‘Why would anyone want to do that?’ I started to develop a deep, irrational fear.

“On shows they were always home alone with no one around to help. Or their mobile phone was just out of reach.

“I found this terrifying. I have a fear of all complications, I panic that I would die.”

It meant Michelle was certain from an early age that she did not want children.

Although she loves being a godmother to two youngsters, she admits: “I’ve never had a maternal instinct.

“When I married my husband in 2011, I felt pressure knowing he’d never be a father. We had the conversation about children but he completely understood.

“Everything about having kids bothers me, I know I would have sleepless nights.

“I am quite controlling and realise you can’t control your children. I would drive myself insane worrying about them.

“I don’t feel like I’m missing out. I have my godchildren, who I adore and spend a lot of time with.

“But I know my personality well and think it’s probably best I wasn’t a parent.”