The Birth Of Our First Child

It was July 12, 2011, and I was nine months pregnant. I had another two weeks until I was due with my first child. I felt like I wasn't prepared even though I watched and read all the books of what to expect during labor. It was my first child and I was so nervous. Do you blame me for being nervous? Everyone always talks about how labor is so painful. That is what I was nervous about. I wasn't nervous about having a child, I was excited to meet this bundle of joy that I have waited my whole life for. We knew that it was a girl and we had our apartment ready for her to come home. I just wasn't expecting her to come two weeks early.

I just took a shower and got dressed. I stood in my bathroom and was brushing my hair as I felt a warm sensation on my inner thighs. I looked down and saw that my pants were wet. I automatically thought to myself, " Dang it, I peed myself." Every pregnant woman knows that sometimes it just happens. It was weird because I didn't cough or sneeze and that's usually when it happens. I just shook it off and washed up again and got changed into a clean pair of clothes. Well, about five minutes later, I felt it again. It took a couple of seconds to realize that it must be my water breaking. I didn't have any contractions, so I was a little confused.

"Babe, I think my water just broke," as I calmly walked into the living room and sat next to my significant other.

Just like a movie, he started freaking out, "I need to call off work. I need to get the bags. Are you ready to go? Do we go to the hospital now?"

"Calm Down, I have to call the doctor and then he will tell us what to do," I calmly said. I dialed the doctor's number and as I sat on hold; I thought why do men freak out more than women when we go into labor? I don't know if we would ever be able to answer this question.

The doctor came on the phone and went over everything with me. He informed me to go to the hospital even though I'm not having contractions because she wants to come out early. So, we grabbed our overnight bags, the car seat, the diaper bag, and everything else that we needed to bring our beautiful daughter home. I also had to put a towel down on our passenger seat because my water was slowly leaking everywhere. We get to the hospital and he was trying to let me out at the emergency room. I told him to go ahead and park in the parking garage and we will walk in together because I'm not in any pain. As we are walking in the hospital, they are trying to give me a wheelchair. I refused and the nurses looked at me like I was crazy. I simply told them, "I heard walking was good for quick delivery." We made it up to the delivery rooms and the whole time I was thinking, "Man this isn't nothing at all. No pain, no nothing. I don't know why I was scared."

The nurses get me in my room and get me all checked in. The doctor comes in and I noticed it wasn't our doctor. She said that our doctor is on vacation and she will be helping me deliver our baby. I was upset because I didn't know this doctor and I really wanted our doctor that I was comfortable with there. Well, I don't think we can wait a week for our doctor. So, this is the doctor that we will have. She does an exam and looks at me instantly and said, "Yep you are in labor; your water broke but you are not dilating. We are going to give you something to help you dilate and get the contractions started." They gave me Pitocin. If you don't know what Pitocin is- it's a medicine that gives you contractions and induces your labor. If you never had it, let me tell you that the contractions don't come on gradually. They come faster and stronger than without the medicine. It just kicks right in and I was in for a rude awakening.

I didn't know how fast the contractions would start coming so I sat there waiting for the family to come up and visit. We had my whole delivery room full of about thirteen family members (yes, thirteen). We had cousins, grandparents, great grandparents, and my siblings. Hey, the doctors allowed it so we were all just talking and patiently waiting for me to dilate. Well, that's when the first contraction hit me. It hit so hard that I grabbed the rail on the side of the bed and said," Oh, that's the pain everyone was talking about. Take it back, I don't want this pain." After going for hours with no dilating and dealing with these contractions that almost had me in tears, that's when I gave in and asked for an epidural. That was a lifesaver for those contractions. The needle in the back was scary but once you have contractions, you won't even think about that needle.

It has been about eleven hours and still no delivery. The epidural really made the contractions go back down to a manageable pain level. That's when one of our family members called in the doctor to check how far along I was. The doctor came in and looked and told everyone to get out and wait in the hallway because our baby girl was coming exactly now. My mom and my significant other stayed in the room with us. "When I say push, PUSH," the doctor said. "Okay," I replied.

I'm pushing and everything is going smoothly. That's when the doctor exclaimed, " I SEE HAIR!" My response of course is, " Sorry, I didn't have a chance to shave down there before coming in." Everyone started laughing. I didn't know why they were laughing. I was so serious. The doctor stopped and looked at me puzzled. Then she realized what I said. She said," No, I meant the head of the baby. Her head is coming out." A couple more pushes and our little girl was here.

We delivered a beautiful little girl and we are so happy. It has been nine years but it still feels like yesterday. I also still think about what I said in the delivery room. I gave everyone a good laugh and a story to tell.