Eighteen years old and two days past my due date. My husband had left a few months earlier on a deployment to the Gulf, so I was pretty much on my own.

I knew early on that I wanted to have a natural birth at home with a midwife, so I skipped going to a doctor all together and got all my prenatal care from a midwife at a free-standing birth center.

Two days after my due date I started having irregular but strong contractions! As soon as they became two to four minutes apart and one minute long my midwife showed up at my house to help coach me through labor.

Sixteen hours went by and contractions had nearly stopped! After hours of walking up and down the hill next to my house and trying different herbs to try and get labor started again I was allowed to rest for the night.

By morning I was almost 6 centimeters dilated and contractions had picked up again! About an hour later my water broke and things seemed to start progressing fast!

Twelve hours went by and I was only at 7 centimeters and with my water broken my midwife decided that I needed to go to the hospital to get some Pitocin to get the labor moving. So into the hospital we trucked and I was hooked up to Pitocin.

I had seen women in labor on Pitocin, but I was not ready for the pain that I endured for eight hours with no pain killer. After what seemed like an eternity of pain and still at 7 centimeters the doctor suggested a Cesarean section. By this time is was only 6 p.m. and I was ready to just have the baby. I was told that they would come in an hour and take me to the OR.

Seven hours later I was wheeled in a cold room and given a shot in my back. To me the whole thing felt like it took 10 minutes when it really took an hour, but I was so tired that I was drifting in and out of sleep. After a half hour of recovery and another half hour wait I was given my new baby girl.

I stayed in the hospital for about 18 hours and asked if I could go home. After a week I was up and moving around with little affect from the major surgery I had undergone the week before. And though I recovered fairly quickly I couldn't help but feel robbed of that first and most important hour with my baby. I feel that my bonding with my child is forever marred by her delivery.

Six months later, I was pregnant again and this timed a VBAC hospital delivery is planned. I had a wonderful doctor and a very caring hospital team. Though the pregnancy ended in yet another C-section due to my son being almost three weeks late, I was still given the chance to labor some without any medication.

The C-section was much easier and my new baby was given to me as soon as he was born and was never taken from me. I believe that it made a world of difference in our bonding because we are super tight. Not that me and my daughter aren't close – it's just that the way she come into the world was trying for me and I was mentally not all there for her first moments in this world!

It has been four years since my son's birth and I am pregnant with No. 3 and am planning, yes, another homebirth with a midwife. I feel that I am more educated when it comes to my health and the health of my child.

I started out this pregnancy with a doctor and was pegged as a "bad patient" (according to my medical record) because I feel that too much is pushed on us women when it comes to pregnancy. Very few of us know that we have the right to refuse everything the doctor pushes on us, even if we are told that it's "hospital policy" and "for the safety of our child."

All I can say is get educated when you get pregnant. It's not the doctor's or the nurse's child that is in your body; it's yours and you have to advocate for the one that has no voice. I am a nurse and have worked in hospitals before, and the truth is, is that a lot of times doctors haven't a clue, so get educated. Research your rights!