My water broke at 7:15 a.m. on August 27, 2009. I had just gotten off the phone with my husband, who is deployed, and had laid back down to get a little more sleep when all of a sudden there was a huge gush of fluid. I panicked because I was only 34 weeks pregnant and though I had the steroid shots at 33 weeks because I went into labor then and they stopped it that didn't mean that his lungs were developed all the way.

I was admitted to the hospital at 9 a.m. As soon as they were sure my water was broken they moved me from triage to labor and delivery. They kept me on monitors all day and at about 6:30 p.m. my doctor came in and said if I did not start contracting on my own by 5 a.m. they were going to start me on Pitocin.

At 5 a.m. my nurse came in and started a Pitocin drip in my IV and by 6:30 a.m. I was contracting so bad I did not want to continue. I could not have an epidural because I had not taken the class. I was supposed to take it after my appointment on the 27th.

At 10:58 a.m. on August 28, 2009, I told the nurse I had an overpowering urge to push. She checked my cervix and said I was only about 8 or 9 centimeters dilated and that I had at least 40 minutes left before I would have to push. She went to call the doctor and by the time she got back the baby was about to make his debut.

The doctor literally had to run to my room to barely catch the baby as he was coming out. Our little boy made his debut at 11:03 a.m. on August 28, 2009. He weighed 5 pounds, 15 ounces. He was 18 3/4 inches long.

They released us the next day with the conclusion that he was able to breathe fine on his own and that he was healthy enough.

Today he is almost a week old and thriving and doing well. He is happy and waiting patiently with his Mommy for his Daddy to come home safely and see him for the first time.