I was 16 years old when I got pregnant with my first child. I had extremely high blood pressure the entire time I was pregnant with him. Medication didn't seem to do the trick for me.

At 35 weeks my OB/GYN checked me and I was dilated 1/2 centimeter. He said as soon as I got to 1 centimeter he was going to induce me because of the high blood pressure.

I went to the doctor every week two times a week and every time I was still 1/2 centimeter. Finally at my last appointment on April 17, 2002, he said, "OK, we are going to induce you tomorrow night. We can't wait any longer. Obviously he doesn't want to come out." I was so excited and scared I didn't know what to do with myself.

The next day came and I didn't have to be at the hospital until 7 p.m. Of course the day went by so slow and I was thinking that 7 p.m. would never come.

We left the house at about 6:15 because we are about 45 minutes from the hospital. I finally got to the hospital and even though I had pre-registered and this was a planned induction they took forever to get me into my room.

So finally around 8 p.m. I got to go to my room. They hooked me up to all the monitors got the IV put in and started the Pitocin. I was still only 1/2 centimeter dilated.

My contractions started and I was OK. I was able to work through them and this didn't seem like such a big deal. A few hours later the nurse came in and checked me. I was only at about 1 1/2. They decided to break my water to get things going. That hurt so bad. The contractions really started to get strong and finally I requested the epidural.

When they came in to give it to me I was a nervous wreck. I had been told that if they do it the wrong way or I jump I could be paralyzed. When they did the epidural I got a horrible sharp pain that went down my entire right side. I thought, Oh God, I'm never going to walk again. They said that was normal and not to worry.

The epidural made me so sick and didn't really seem to be helping. I threw up at least three times and felt like someone had put itching powder in my bed with me. They gave me some medicine to relieve the itching and I was fine after that.

In the morning the nurse came to check me again and I was only at 4 centimeters. I thought, My God, you have got to be kidding me. I went through labor and contractions for about six more hours and finally got checked again only at a 6 and he had not come down at all. It was the craziest looking thing. I wish I had a picture. He was all the up under my breast on the left side. It was just one big bump.

My OB/GYN finally came to check on me and told me that I was going to have to get a Cesarean section because I was too small and he wasn't coming down anyway. I was so scared I started to cry. Then I got mad because I had gone through all this pain for nothing. We could have had this done yesterday!

I was supposed to have my C-section at 3:30. For some reason my temperature went up to 103 and I had to go right then. At 2:58 Gavin Blayne was born weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces, 21 1/2 inches. He had so much hair it looked like he had a wig on.

He is now a happy very tall almost 6-year-old. And so smart that it scares me.