Everybody always tells you that labor with your first child is going to be long, but that definitely was not the case for my first baby. The morning that I gave birth to my son was the fastest, most uncomfortable thing I have ever experienced:

I was 9 months pregnant and extremely large for my petite frame. I had woken up that morning feeling a little uncomfortable, but I didn't really think that much about it. That day was actually my niece's 3rd birthday party and my husband, Matt, and I had gone out to buy a Barney outfit that I was going to wear for the party. Everyone had decided that I would make the perfect Barney because of my belly.

Just as we found the Barney costume, I had a contraction. It was really weak and after reading all of the books on labor, I figured it would still be a while, so I didn't tell Matt about it. Instead, I just urged him to grab the first costume that we saw and leave. That was a big mistake on my part.

Quickly leaving the mall, we headed for my sister's house. Most of the guests were already there and once Matt and I arrived, the party began. Arielle, my sister, helped me into the Barney suit and left me in the bedroom. The costume was extremely tight on me and the zipper had had a hard time closing. The costume was actually squishing my stomach and the contractions were intensifying.

There were quite a lot of children at the party, and after being in the room for a while, the children decided to come and give Barney hugs! Until then, I had been silently holding my belly on a seat, but as one of the kids squeezed me as hard as he could, I had a major contraction and the groan that I had been keeping in escaped me. I quickly moved away from the child and grabbed my contracting belly. The Barney outfit had been so tight that you could see my stomach contracting.

Panting, I kneeled over in pain and the baby quickly dropped. As the baby dropped, my hands dropped to my lower stomach, which had swelled with the descent of the baby's head. Unfortunately, though, the Barney costume would not allow my belly to swell big enough and it compressed me.

After that one contraction, Matt and Arielle were at my side, trying to help me to a chair, but I stubbornly wanted to keep standing. Matt was so supportive, standing by me, feeling helpless.

The next contraction hit me suddenly. I felt immense pressure and I fell into a squat immediately. I had to push, but the costume would not let my baby come out! Panting louder, I grabbed under my contracting belly, trying to hold my baby in my stomach so that it would stay there. I managed to grunt to Matt that I needed to get the costume off and he scrambled to undo the zipper. As the contractions hit like tidal waves, I leaned on the kitchen counter. My baby was crowning, and the zipper would not undo! By that time, I was grunting and panting like an animal and trying to fight the urge to push.

The Barney costume was tight against my body and as Matt tried to unzip the zipper, it broke! But the baby's head was almost fully crowned and luckily Arielly came with a pair of scissors. The baby had been pushed in and out of me by the contractions and the costume for some time now and Arielle thankfully cut the costume so that Jacob Mark Anderson could surprisingly and thankfully enter this world a healthy little boy!