This was our first baby. I had a lot of difficulty towards the end with my asthma and ended up in the ER a lot. During my last eight weeks, I had on-and-off contractions. Two weeks before Christmas, I ended up in Labor and Delivery with Premature labor at 34 weeks, but the doctors were able to get it under control with injections. I was told to make it at least until Christmas.

Christmas came and went and things started to heat up. I finally gave up going to work the week of New Year's. I had contractions on and off all day long which made working near impossible.

Then came Tuesday, Jan. 5. I woke up with horrible contractions around 3:00 a.m. I made my husband stay home from work. They got to less than ten minutes apart and then abruptly stopped at 11:00 a.m. I was so depressed, but tired, so I passed out while he went to work. At about 7:30 p.m., I went from zero to sixty. Contractions every five minutes. Off to the hospital. I had decided to go natural (doctor thought I was crazy because of the way the baby was positioned). Back labor from hell. I went until 5:00 a.m. without pain medication with contractions every minute or two. By 5:00 a.m. I was still only dilated 5 centimeters and my water had been broken at midnight.

I decided to get an epidural. I shot open abruptly... and passed out into oblivion. They started some Pitocin to make contractions go faster at one point because I guess I slowed down once I fell asleep. I woke up at 9:30 a.m. and then said, PUSH! I pushed for two and a half hours without feeling a thing (thank you, epidural) and Alexandra Nan Williams was born at 11:32 a.m. I had a nice episiotomy, but other than that I was fine. She was 8 pounds and 20 inches long. Now, a week later, she is 7 pounds, 14 ounces (up from 7 pounds, 3 ounces).

If I had to do it all over, I would have gotten the epidural to start, but everything was worth it when I saw her little eyes.