I was due to have Mia October 5, 2006. Two weeks prior the doctor told me that it probably would be a good idea to stop working because it really could be soon and that I needed to take it easy. Those were the longest two weeks of my life. I kept waiting and waiting and nothing was happening.

About three days before I actually went into labor I woke up in the middle of the night and noticed that she wasn't moving as much (she was always very active at night). This alarmed me. I knew that movement becomes less and less frequent as the weeks go on toward the due date, etc. However, something just didn't seem right. So I called the doctor the next morning and they had me come in. They checked me and I was about 2 1/2 centimeters dilated and they sent me over for a NST. They noticed that she wasn't moving as much as they would like. They gave me some juice and then she perked up. They said all was OK and sent me home.

I spent the weekend walking as much as I could.

Monday morning I woke up around 6 a.m. and noticed that there was just a small amount of blood. I didn't really think anything of it (I figured that it was the mucous plug and I had heard that you can lose that several days before going into labor). I went about my day as usual.

I began feeling really achy like I was going to start my period. This went on and off, and I noticed around 11 a.m. while driving it was becoming pretty intense. My sister was with me and she started timing these "pains." I really didn't think that I was actually in labor.

It (the pain) just got worse and worse. I called the hospital at around 12:30 or 1 p.m. and they said that I was just probably in early labor and that I could come in but that they would probably just send me back home. I didn't want to go through the whole back and forth thing, so I waited it out.

By this time my mom was at my house, along with my sister, and they were just so happy. I wasn't so much! (This was the first grandchild for my mom and first niece for my sister so they were excited, to say the least.)

Finally at about 2:45 p.m. I couldn't take it anymore. I called the hospital again and the said to go ahead and come if contractions were probably about four or five minutes apart and extremely intense. I jumped in the shower at home really quickly and we headed off to the hospital (it's really weird but this whole time I really didn't think that I was going to have her that day; I thought that they were just going to send me back home; boy, was I surprised!)

We got to the hospital and did the whole administration thing. They finally got me to a room and had me change. They checked me and I was 5 centimeters dilated and had a bulging bag of water. It took them so long to get an IV in me. It was so painful. I had a nurse digging a needle in each arm while having intense contractions. Finally they called an anesthesiologist up to do it. He had the IV in in like two seconds. While he was telling me about the epidural I was having major pains and couldn't help but just cry. He told the nurse that maybe they should check me and that he had never seen anyone go so fast. They checked me and I was 10 centimeters! Mind you, this was only about 10, maybe 15, minutes after being checked the first time!

After that it was pretty much a whirlwind. They broke my water and were putting my legs up in stirrups. My husband was just pulling in the parking lot from work when I first started pushing. So he walked in to quite a show. Things weren't going so well. They started losing Mis's heartbeat on the monitor. They had me lying on my sides and nothing was helping so they put an internal monitor on her and that worked for a little, but then they lost the heartbeat completely.

At this point they decided to call in another doctor who was obviously more experienced. You could just see the fear in the doctor's and the nurses' faces. They had an OR ready and waiting for me and what seemed like 10 people standing in the room watching everything. Finally I had pushed Mia down far enough and the doctor said, "This is going to hurt" and, oh my God, did it. I was given an episiotomy without any local. Then he proceeded to use a vacuum extraction that failed seven times. By this point I couldn't feel my arms. I had begun to hyperventilate. I had nurses practically yelling at me, one who told me that I was harming my baby by not pushing hard enough. I was pushing as much as I could.

The doctor stopped everything and he told me that he was going to try the vacuum once more and if it didn't work that we were going to have a Cesarean section. I focused on him and what he was saying and my pushing. He attached the vacuum once again on my poor baby's little head and I pushed as hard as I possibly could and he pulled and finally her head was out. The cord was wrapped around twice. They said that was what was causing the problems with her heartbeat.

The pediatric team took her and made sure that she was OK and, thank God, she was. Mia Rose was born healthy at 6 pounds, 12 ounces, 18 1/2 inches long. The only problem that she did have was a hematoma on her head from the suction of the vacuum (which I was told is very common with vacuum extractions).

Mia today is a very healthy, very smart, very loving 11-month-old. She is beginning to walk and talk and is the love of our lives!