I got pregnant in December of 1999, a very big surprise since I was only married two months before. My pregnancy was very normal. My due date was September 1. Everything went very well. The only complaint was the 100-degree plus summer weather. As the days drew closer to the due date I was feeling anxious and very nervous. My husband works construction with 12 to 14 hour days and I was hoping I wouldn't have to take myself to the hospital.

I went to my weekly doctor's visit and he told me I was 1 centimeter dilated and 75 percent effaced. I was thrilled it could happen any day, or so I thought. During the next week's visit, I got the same news. I was disappointed and now almost a week overdue. This was a Monday. I came back on Wednesday to the same news as before. They wanted to induce on Friday. I really didn't want to go that route so they told me I could wait five more days and if nothing happened, we had to come in on the following Wednesday.

On Monday morning, I woke up at 3 a.m. to some pains. I went to the bathroom and found the mucous plug in my panties, so I changed and went back to bed. The pains came every 10 minutes. My husband got up to go to work and I told him to stay by the phone. The contractions were every 20 minutes now not very regular and then a few hours later they stopped.

Tuesday morning I woke up with pains again. They were about 30 minutes apart, then by 9 p.m., they were every 10 minutes. I tried to stay calm and go to sleep, but they were coming faster. At 2 a.m., I got in the bathtub. It felt great, but the pains were getting worse and coming every five minutes. I finally woke up my husband and we went to the hospital.

I was 4 centimeters dilated and completely effaced. My water broke at 5 a.m. and I had my epidural at 5:30 a.m. It was wonderful; I got to sleep. My mom finally got into town at 9 a.m. and took my husband out to eat. By noon, my contractions had slowed way down and the baby was showing signs of distress so they gave me some Pitocin and put an internal fetal monitor on baby's head. By 4:30 p.m., I really felt the urge to push. My epidural had been in for almost 12 hours and it was starting to wear off.

I was completely dilated and ready to push at 4:45 p.m. Pushing was hard work, but thank God I only pushed 45 minutes. I got to watch the whole thing on the mirror. It was a wonderful experience. The baby's heartbeat was dropping, so they vacuumed her out. Come to find out, her cord was wrapped two times around her neck. The NICU team was there and took her when she came out. They worked on her and I heard that wonderful cry. Halley was born on September 13 at 5:33 p.m. She was 7 pounds, 4 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches.

Everybody told me how you forget all the pain and hard times. They were exactly right. I had a scare that something was wrong. It was indeed the longest five minutes of my life. I had an episiotomy and had to stay there while they worked on my daughter. My husband went with her. My doctor was wonderful and told me everything that was happening. My girl is now 6 months old and the biggest joy of my life. It's funny how much in love you are with a little tiny person the first time you see them. We are going to plan number two for maybe next year. Halley will be 2 then.