I found out I was pregnant in January of 2006. I was just 4 weeks when I found out. My due date was set for September 23, 2006.

Throughout my pregnancy I was always measuring two weeks ahead of time but my due date was accurate. This was confirming my fear that the baby would be large. My fiancé was 10 pounds, 5 ounces when he was born and I was 8 pounds, 14 ounces. I am a rather small girl at 5 feet, 4 inches, 125 pounds, so having a large baby scared me.

At 36 weeks I developed extremely high blood pressure and was put on complete bed rest. We did an ultrasound at 38 weeks to estimate the size of the baby. According to the ultrasound the baby weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces and I still had two weeks to go. I was not favorable for an induction at this point because I was not dilated and was not thinning out. My doctor wanted to induce at 39 weeks but my fiancé was going to be gone for a week until the Sunday before my due date, which was on Tuesday. I said I would wait it out and we scheduled the induction for Sunday at 6 a.m. It was also going to be a trial labor because the doctor thought the baby was going to be quite large and face up.

The Friday before my scheduled induction I woke up at 3 a.m. with period-like cramps. I went to the bathroom and noticed a lot of greenish/brownish mucous in the toilet and when I wiped. I went back to bed figuring this was my mucous plug. At 4 a.m. I had another menstrual-type contraction, went to the bathroom and had more greenish/brownish mucous. My parents had been staying with me while my fiancé was gone so I went out to tell my mom that I wasn't going to make it until Sunday. I became very upset because my fiancé was going to miss the birth. I had a good cry and then felt better.

This continued every hour until 9 a.m. I decided to call my nurse to check with her if this was indeed my mucous plug. She wanted me to come and see the doctor at 2 p.m. At about 10 a.m. the contractions stopped but the mucous continued. I wanted to just skip the doctor's appointment but my mom insisted that I go. I also called my good friend who was my backup birthing coach and she met us at the doctor.

My doctor checked me and said I was about 2 to 3 centimeters dilated. Just as she got done checking me she said, "Oh, honey, your water just broke." I was kind of upset because I figured my water broke because of the exam.

My mom and Deb came into the room and then they wheeled me down the hall to delivery. I was checked into my room at about 3 p.m. I was only having minor cramping at this point.

At 6 p.m. they put my IV in and started the Pitocin around 6:30 p.m. My doctor also "officially" broke my water at this time. I started having regular contractions around 8 p.m. It felt like someone was squeezing my stomach really tight. We walked the halls till about 10 p.m.

At this point the contractions were just starting to get pretty painful. I was still 3 centimeters dilated and requested an epidural. I didn't want to get too far along and then not be able to get it. I got the walking epidural at 10:30 p.m. I had to lie in bed until 11:15 p.m. and then we got up and walked the halls again.

Around 12:30 a.m. while we were walking I started to feel a lot of pressure down below. The nurse came in to check me at 12:45 a.m. and I was 8 centimeters already. My epidural was topped off and then I tried to rest for awhile. That wasn't happening though. At 1:30 a.m. I was 10 centimeters. My doctor wanted to wait to see if the baby would drop more before we started pushing.

At about 2:30 a.m. I started pushing. After an hour of pushing nothing was happening. My epidural was also not working anymore. I was feeling every contraction and it was extremely painful. At 4:30 a.m. my doctor said we would have to do a Cesarean section. She was nervous because she assumed the baby was large and was face up. She said that was why the epidural was not working because the baby was stuck and blocking my nerves.

They wheeled me into the C-section at 5:15 a.m. I couldn't wait for them to give me the numbing medicine because I was in so much pain. They were having problems getting my left side to go numb but finally it worked after 20 minutes. I am extremely claustrophobic so being numb really freaked me out. I panicked the entire time the surgery was going on. I remember my heart racing and just wanting to jump off the table.

Finally at 5:44 a.m. Brooklyn Vernice was born weighing 9 pounds and 21.5 inches long with a head circumference of 36.5 centimeters. And she was face up. Everyone in the operating room kept saying, "Oh my gosh, she's huge!" My doctor and nurses said it was good that I had the C-section.

Brooklyn is now a very healthy 10-month-old weighing 23 pounds. She has always been off the charts with her growth. I'm hoping baby No. 2 will be smaller because I definitely want to try for a VBAC with that one.

My only complaint about the C-section was the actual surgery itself. I was up and walking the next day. I only had two nights where the pain was really bad. My overall birth experience was not as bad as I expected it to be. Yes, it was painful at times, but nothing I couldn't handle. And it is so worth it in the end!