At 23 years of age I was pregnant with my second child.  The first pregnancy had, unfortunately, ended in a miscarriage the year before, but I was not discouraged.  This pregnancy had not had any problems except for some back pain, and that was to be expected since I had been in a serious car accident at age 16 and broken my pelvis in three places.

Near my expected due date my husband and I had been to Lamaze classes and taken the “tour” of the hospital so we would know what to expect. We thought we were all ready, but are you ever really ready for that first delivery? One night I began having some more intense lower back pain, but didn’t really think anything of it. I went to bed as usual and slept fitfully throughout the night. The next morning I noticed that I still had the back pain, but I continued my usual routine until about 10:00 AM, when the contractions started. They were not very severe, but I timed them and they were 7 minutes apart and regular, so I called my doctor. He told me that since this was my first delivery, I probably had several hours to go yet, but to keep timing the contractions and go to the hospital when they were 5 minutes apart.

Well, by 1:00 PM I was at the hospital already, still not in a lot of pain, but the contractions were 4 minutes apart and regular. They admitted me to the delivery ward and put me in a private room where only my husband could visit. I was given all the usual prep, but had an advantage in that a very good friend worked in labor and delivery and kept coming in to check on me. She wasn’t married yet and was as excited about my baby as I was! The doctor was taking his time coming to see me because he thought I would still be there for hours. He waited until after his office hours were over at 5:00 before coming to the hospital. When he came in to see me shortly after 5:00, he checked and I was fully dilated, so he broke my water and they took me directly to the delivery room. He almost missed my delivery because after a very short transition my beautiful baby girl was born at 5:25 PM.

The delivery was not difficult for me at all, so my mother was very surprised to see me in the recovery room already talking about having another baby! It wasn’t until she knew that the baby and I were all right that she shared with me that the doctors had told her, after I had that car accident at age 16, that I would probably never be able to have children! She had kept that secret for 7 years, through my miscarriage which she thought proved the doctors right, and had never shared it with me. I don’t think I would have believed her anyway. I was born to be a mother and now have 3 wonderful children to prove it.