by April Phelps

Created on: May 11, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

The birth of a child tops my list as the most magnificent moment of my life. I remember it with detail, too, although it was sixteen years ago. It began on a Friday in the afternoon, as my contractions started kicking in. What a way to begin a weekend, yes? Later that night my contractions were five minutes apart, and my mom insisted on calling the father's mom all the way in another town, so we could arrive in style to a hospital five minutes away if we walked there ourselves. Go figure.

When I arrived through the emergency entrance, the nurse on duty and both the grandmas helped transfer me from the car to the wheelchair, for I could barely walk by this time. As I was getting wheeled up to the ob/gyn floor, my head was swimming with thoughts of not knowing what to expect, for I was a young mother at eighteen, and pretty scared. Once I was checked in, the on-call nurse had to check to see how far I wad dilated. I wasn't aware of how intrusive this would be, so I screamed in the process for the pain. I think I scared both grandmas for this!

I opted for a natural birth, for the hospital environment scared me! As a result, I choose a midwife instead of an actual obstetrician, a drug-free birth, and a birthing room setup to resemble more a room at home. Making all these choices made a big difference, for I felt more comfortable, and more in control. Yet this was an illusion, for when the contractions started getting stronger, the pain was hard to tolerate. I would just breathe and pant through it, remembering my Lamaze classes.

Yet as calming and reassuring as those classes were and as the environment appeared, I couldn't sit still. I kept moving from the bed to the rocking chair to the shower to the hallway. The nurses even said I used up much of the hot water supply in the hospital, for needing it to soothe the labor pains in my back. I also kept talking to pass the time, and my birthing partner later commented I talked her ear off. I'm a nervous talker though.

Then all of a sudden my labor slowed down Saturday morning. I was kind of disappointed, for my birthing partner and I had worked through the night to induce progress. Even so, my labor was induced, for I carried my son a week and half past the due date. Now they had to induce the natural birthing process again by breaking my water by the means of the midwife using this instrument that resembled a huge crochet hook. Everything changed after that!

I then noticed an instant change, and I started to freak out

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