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It was my expectation to go through hours upon hours of labor and excruciating pain. I had gone to the childbirth classes, practiced my breathing and fully expected to have a natural childbirth. Well, I didn't get what I expected and I'm actually pretty grateful for it.

The night before my water broke, I had an overwhelming craving for anything sweet. I made Pillsbury Orange Danish and went to town on the whole batch. Satisfied, I tried to go to sleep. I was restless all night, and my husband gave up and moved to the other room while I flipped on the television. Around 5am, while watching a special on The Great Gatsby on the Discovery Channel, I felt like I was about to wet my pants.

Running to the bathroom, I yelled, "Charlie!" I knew this wasn't normal pee your pants kind of thing. My water broke suddenly as if someone kicked me from the inside. Actually, someone did. My husband called the doctor, and she said to take my time getting to the hospital since it would be awhile before anything would happen. Take a shower, pack my bag, and maybe get a snack on the way.

I was planning on packing my bag that day, and making an appointment to tour the hospital. Those plans were thrown away pretty quickly and I waddled to the car. I was waiting for the intense pain to come over me. But I still hadn't had a contraction.

We arrived at the hospital which was only five minutes away. They offered me a wheelchair, but I still felt fine. My water broke, that's all. Still, there were no contractions. We filled out the paperwork, and then I sat in the wheelchair to make the nurses feel better. Across from me was a woman who clearly was having contractions, and I felt for her. She looked awful, but there I was, freshly showered, wide awake and feeling fine.

We went into an examining room, and stayed there for a bit. My husband and I were wondering what we should be talking about since these were the last few moments before we added a child to our family. Then my doctor came in to check how things were going. She put her hand in to where things were, and quickly realized she wasn't feeling the head, it was either a foot or a hand.

She quickly pulled out the ultrasound machine and realized our baby was coming the wrong way. My daughter had kicked and was in a footling breech position, which is dangerous if you don't have medical assistance. As soon as she realized this, I looked at her and said, "I'm going to have a Cesarean, aren't I"

"Yes," she said. "I'm sorry."

Sorry? I didn't care how this baby was going to be born. I just wanted her to be healthy. They rolled me into the operating room, and kept me calm through the whole experience. I hadn't read that part of the book on C-sections, thinking I would get to it eventually and that I probably wouldn't need it anyway. By not reading it, I didn't know what to fear. So, with my husband next to me, we patiently let the doctors do their work.

My daughter, Sadie Angelica, was born at 12:11 pm, and only 7 hours after my water broke. She was healthy, vibrant and screaming like a newborn baby should.

Sure, it wasn't how I planned to give birth. I thought I would be in massive pain, screaming at my husband while breaking down into tears. Instead, I never had one contraction. The doctors took great care to make sure I was comfortable and relaxed. Because I didn't have huge expectations for my "birth experience" I was incredibly happy with what transpired. I had a healthy baby girl and a husband next to me through the whole thing. I could not have asked for more.

Learn more about this author, Stephanie Joynes.
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