First off, this site helped me so much! I read almost every story to prepare myself for anything. Some say it will just scare you but it really helped me.

I found out I was pregnant with my first in March of 2005. I was due until December of that year. I had my fair share of complications. I had emergency gall bladder surgery in August at 22 weeks. Then bed rest off and on. It was terrible.

But December 5 my doctor said the baby was big enough for me to get induced. So my husband and I went up to the hospital and they started my induction. They used Cervidil. I think it's a method of using four small pills and inserting them into the cervix. It was supposed to start contractions by the third pill.

They inserted the first at 9 a.m. It was terribly painful. (I later found out my horrible doctor ripped some skin in my vagina; that is why it hurt so badly.) But then I had to lie still on my back for three hours. Nothing. So they inserted the second one at noon. Nothing. Then the third at 5 p.m.

At about 9 p.m. they said I had to choose to go home or insert the fourth. At this point my heart rate was dangerously high so I said I wanted to go home. My husband and I walked out of the hospital at midnight that night with three inches of fresh snow on the ground and no baby.

The next two weeks I went back and forth with my doctor about what to do. I was so frustrated I demanded a Cesarean section. He put me off and didn't answer my calls for a week before I called and told him I would go somewhere else if he ignored me. So he scheduled me for my C-section on December 16, 2005 at 8 a.m.

I had to go in at 6 a.m. We sat there and watched some good Saved by the Bell until I started to panic! I was terrified. But I got my epidural and it was a breeze! The IV was worse.

We went in to the delivery room and as my doctor was talking to me I didn't realize they had already made the incision. It was about 15 minutes and my son Alexander Ray was born at 8:47 a.m. with his dad's curly hair but my full head of hair.

What they don't tell you about C-sections is, it hurts. As they put it all back in it stings. I told them it hurt and they told me what they were doing in graphic detail. I got nauseous. They gave me some medicine and I was out.

I woke up in recovery. They took me down to see my husband, baby and family. It was really easy for me to recover. I had them take out my epidural that night and was walking. I was in on a Friday and out Sunday morning. I made myself get up and walk as much as possible. They told me I was one of the limited who recovered so fast. I don't know if it's good luck or if I just had that sheer will to get out of a terrible hospital, but I was walking through the store that Sunday buying toilet paper.

Now it's six weeks later and I'm healed and great. Any questions? Let me know. I'm happy to share anything.