After 10 months of marriage and trying for a baby we were finally pregnant. Well, at least I was! The next nine months went by both slow and fast at the same time.

It was a Tuesday morning when I woke up to a strong contraction. It was so gradual. That whole day I was getting contractions two hours apart, then an hour apart, then 45 minutes apart, then 30 minutes apart. It was around midnight when they were about 30 to 40 minutes apart. I tried to sleep but soon they were coming every 25 minutes, then every 15 minutes. As soon as I started sleeping another contraction would wake me up.

So as not to disturb my husband who was sleeping soundly, I went through this in another bedroom. Finally at 8 a.m., when the contractions were at eight minutes apart, I woke him up. We checked in at the hospital at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. When the doctors checked me the first time I was only at 1 to 2 centimeters dilation. They nearly sent me home but after a second examination had me at 3 to 4 centimeters dilation I was allowed to stay.

All day long I walked the halls and took baths and showers. I even went on the birthing ball. Finally, after several hours of trying to get things going and feeling so exhausted after being awake for two days, I decided to get the epidural (which originally I did not want). It was about 5 p.m. by now. After about 15 minutes the pain went completely away and after 40 minutes I fell fast asleep.

Around midnight the nurses woke me up to start pushing. I was surprised when I started to feel pain as I thought the epidural would take away all the pain. I pushed for 49 minutes. It was extremely painful and as they urged me to push I exclaimed, "No, I can't." But I did!

My daughter was born at 12:49 on a Thursday morning – January 13, 2005, weighing 9 pounds even.

Today she is a happy 2-year-old, with a 5-month-old baby sister, and I love them both with all my life.