On this day 19 years ago....

in the wee hours of the morning I was awoken by very severe labor pains.  Having never been through this I expected this was what labor pains were supposed to feel like...extremely painful..the kind of pain that takes your breath away.  I timed them 10 minutes apart and thought that I had a long way to go especially since this was my first birth.

I called my OB and he told me that I should wait a little while and then call back if the contractions were consistent for an hour or so.  I finished off my suitcase, took a shower, dried my hair and got dressed. 

Suddenly the contractions jumped from 10 minutes to 5 minutes.  I definitely didn't expect that.  The pain was immense and very difficult.  I paged my OB to update him.  Just as I was getting a call back the contractions jumped from 5 minutes to 3 minutes.  I shouted out to the doctor and he told me to get to the hospital immediately.  I noted the time on the clock.  It was just 6 am.

Thank God the hospital was just 2 miles from the house because I was starting to think I might give birth right here in the car.  I felt an urge to push that was like no other feeling I had ever had. The pain was unbelievable and I could barely speak. I tried hard to listen to what I learned in lamaze class.  Breathe calmly and regularly and don't panic.

When I got to the emergency room doors I quickly told the nurse attending that I needed to push.  She got me on a bed and rushed me up to the maternity room.  Once there the nurses literally threw the hospital gown on me and examined me.  They pronounced I was 9 centimeters dilated and they could feel the baby's head.

Oh my God. What happened to all of those articles I read that said the first birth can last anywhere from 12-24 hours? Why was my body deceiving me?  I didn't even have a chance to slip a tylenol much less an IV drip. Forget the epidural. It was way too late for that.  I was gonna do this with no help from medication.  This was gonna be sheer will on my part and I knew it. 

My OB was on his way and this baby was not gonna wait for him.  I tried to send brain waves to the baby..."please don't come out yet"..."please wait for the doctor"...several minutes later I could hear my doctor's voice yelling down the hall and the nurse telling him which room I was in.  As he came through the door I felt this overwhelming sense of security.  My doctor had arrived and this was showtime.

The pushing lasted a total of 3 minutes when with one big strong force my little baby boy arrived into my doctor's waiting hands.  It was just past 7:30 am and at that moment the world stood still.  As this beautiful baby boy was placed on my stomach I shed a tear because I realized that from this point forward my life would be changed forever.

I was now a Mom.