Brianna's Birth Story

I was four days late on Dec. 7, 2002. I woke up that morning and began to feel contractions. My husband and I went for a walk because we knew that would help labor progress. The contractions started getting closer together but were still not very strong. I called my doctor and she told me to get some rest so I would be prepared and that I would see her later that evening.

Around 2 o'clock that afternoon my contractions stopped. After getting all excited and worked up it was only Braxton Hicks. My husband and I went to bed that evening feeling disappointed because we were eager to meet the little girl inside me. During the night I woke up every hour with intense pain in my abdomen and I had to go to the bathroom. I had no clue that this was the beginning.

The next morning, my husband and I went on with our day, but by early evening the pain started coming about every twenty minutes, and it was pretty intense. I had no idea what contractions should feel like and since I had been "faked out" the day before, I didn't think it was really labor. I decided to take a bath to help relieve some of the discomfort when all of a sudden my contractions came faster and stronger. They were now two to three minutes apart. I climbed out of the tub and rushed around trying to get ready for the hospital in-between contractions. Then my husband decided that he, too, needed to take a shower before we left since he knew it might be awhile before he had another chance to do that. I was so nervous I thought we weren't going to make it to the hospital in time.

After 14 1/2 hours of labor in the hospital my doctors told me that the baby's head was turned and had not made any progress in the last three hours. They gave us some options and my husband and I decided to go ahead with the C-section because we were both exhausted! At 10:50 a.m. on Dec. 9, 2002 our little girl finally decided to join us. The long wait and all the work were well worth it!