Christian's Birth Story

My husband and I waited six years before we decided to have our first child. We wanted to finish college and settle down before trying. We tried to get pregnant for a year with no luck. My doctors decided I needed a little help, so I was put on Clomaphine for five months.

One day I was shopping at Wallmart´s and tried on some clothes. The size I always wore didn't fit right and I felt a little funny, so I decided to buy a pregnancy test, just like I had done every month for the last year. I went home, took the test and within seconds, I saw two lines! I was so excited I didn't know what to do.

Up until my 30th week, my pregnancy was almost textbook, except for having kidney stones. The day of my 30-week check-up, I felt a little funny and described to my doctor what I was feeling. He examined me and told me I had dilated 1 1/2 centimeters and I was fully effaced. My heart stopped. My mother had lost her first two children at almost exactly the same stage in her pregnancy due to an incompetent cervix. I had been diagnosed with the same condition.

I was immediately hospitalized, and for the next seven weeks was placed on strict bedrest. For Christmas, I had to stay in a recliner, but at least I was still pregnant. My due date was February 5 and my doctor wanted me to get to January 9 (at the very least) before he felt comfortable.

On January 15, I was in a cleaning frenzy. My body and mind wanted to clean everything. At about 8:00 p.m. while my husband was watching NYPD Blue, I accidentally bumped my stomach and noticed that it was hard. I thought, this must be a contraction, so I kept feeling it for the next hour and a half. When I noticed that it was tightening every four minutes, I told my husband, "Maybe we should go to the hospital."

We arrived around 10:00 p.m. The doctor who had brought me into this world was on call. He had placed a ribbon in my mother's cervix so that I would not be born early like the two babies she had lost. He checked me and said I was 4 1/2 cm. dilated. This was it. Everything I had been waiting for was happening.

I was admitted into Labor and Delivery. I slept through the night, and was given my epidural at 9:30 the following morning. At about 1:30 p.m., I felt the baby moving down. I called the nurse and she examined me; my baby's head was at my pelvic bone. It was time. We had to find my husband in the hospital. After only 25 minutes of pushing, I heard screaming and saw my mother crying. All I heard was, "Oh Alesia! You did it!" Yes I did. I kept my baby safe inside me until he was well enough to be born.

After a few minutes of crying and excitement, we finally noticed that it was a boy! We had wanted it to be a surprise. He was perfect. He cried while the nurse checked him out, but when they brought him to me he immediately stopped crying. He lay on my chest and stared at me. God was gracious enough to give me one of his angels. My husband and I are so happy with our son. We thank God everyday for our little miracle.