New Years Eve 1998, my husband Mark and I had gone out to dinner to celebrate with some friends. I was in my 5 month of pregnancy and had found out I was having a little girl less than a week earlier. It was really the happiest time of my life. My pregnancy was amazingwith the exception of some pains and bronchitis a few weeks before, I felt really good. I felt the baby start moving when I was just 13 weeks into my pregnancy. At night when I had insomnia, I felt like I had someone keeping me company. I never had morning sickness like a lot of my friends.

At the time I had been taking care of other peoples children for almost 10 years in various aspectsfrom a live in nanny, to live out nanny, to substitute teacherI was ready to finally have a child of 'my own' to take care of.

A little after 10:00pm our friends started leaving the restaurant. As I was saying goodbye and wishing a friend a Happy New Year, I felt a little cramp and put my hand on my stomach. She asked if I was okay, and I joked, "I'm finethe baby probably didn't like the chicken."

Mark and I left the restaurant and contemplated stopping by a friends house who was having a New Years party, but I felt another cramp and told him that I thought I should go home and lie downOn the drive home, I had another painful cramp shortly after that. We went to bed and I remember waking up at 12:02AM thinking it's 1999. This was going to be the best year ever

I tried to fall back asleep but I felt crampy and uncomfortable. My stomach would tighten and releaseI thought maybe this was a Braxton Hicks contraction the doctor had told me that I had been having on and off since about my 18 week of pregnancy.

Around 1:30am, it hurt SO bad, I was pretty sure the contractions I was having weren't 'normal'I wasn't sure what to doshould I call my ob/gyn only for her to dismiss my pains/concerns as 'normal' part of pregnancy as she had done twice already in the last few weeks?

I went to take a hot shower to see if that would help the crampinessI then decided, I am going to the ob/gyn or go to the ER

I was just getting out of the shower, and my water broke.

I started screaming for Mark.
We drove the nearest hospital, but they didn't have a birthing unit. We had to wait for an hour for an ambulance to take us to Beth Israel Hospital in Boston where I was supposed to have the baby later that year.

When I got there, I was bleeding heavily. I had an ultrasound, and the baby's heart

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