I told myself the first day that I was going to have a great attitude about my pregnancy.  I understood that whatever happened I was helping God with a miracle.  I truly believe that.  I had a little morning sickness but it never got to me.  I kept thinking, “this is nothing compared to the horror stories I’ve heard.  I can handle it”.  I was very lucky.  I had a wonderful pregnancy.  The worse part was waiting for the results of the amniocentesis.  We got the results back and everything was normal.  I was personally worried because of my age.  There was one little glitch, my husband and I had both thought it was a boy.  Well, when they told me it was a girl I was thrilled!  I couldn’t wait to French braid her hair and play dress up, but my husband was in denial for a few minutes.  He was looking forward to teaching him how to play catch and play football.  She is now Daddy’s little girl and he is now looking forward to spoiling her.

Everything was going great until my 36 week check up.  It was time for my first internal, that’s when the Doctor told me I was 2-3 cm dilated and about 40% effaced.  He asked me if I was in pain, and I said no, but he wanted me to go to the hospital to be put on the baby monitor to make sure I was not in labor.  So I called my husband and we went to the hospital.  Rita Marie was the midwife on duty.  She checked me out and agreed with the doctor, but after being on the monitor for over an hour there were no signs of labor pains.  She sent me home on bed rest for a couple of days until I reached the 37^th week.  I returned to the doctor’s office 1 week later and he did another exam; this time I was 3-4 cm dilated and 80% effaced.  This was Oct. 7^th.  The Doctor said, “Well this is it, you should have this baby tonight or tomorrow.”  I was so excited, I called my husband to share the news and tell him I was going home to put the luggage in the car - it remained in the car for another 15 days.

I went back a week later and Sharon, one of the midwives, said I was still 3-4 cm dilated and 80% effaced.  The baby had apparently went on vacation and decided she was not coming out!  I was very frustrated at this point.  I was still working because I didn’t know what else to do.  I wasn’t experiencing any labor pains.  I tried everything, walking, taking Evening Primrose, and drinking raspberry tea.  My husband even spent countless hours driving us around Manassas hitting every railroad track we could find hoping this would help.  Still nothing…AAARGH!

One week later at the doctors office again, midwife Rita Marie examined me and I was 5 cm dilated and 90% effaced.  She kept saying, “Are you having any pain?” I kept saying no!  She said “It is near impossible that you are half way there (10 cm) and you have no pain.”  Again she said it should be tonight or tomorrow.  She told me to go home, walk for 1 hour, have sex and take Milk of Magnesia.  I did all of the above, but mind you that you feel as sexy as a water buffalo, but we did it.  At long last I started to have some pain.  My poor husband started to time me.  They were very sporadic, coming every 5, 11, and 22 minutes.  So, I went back to bed, to heck with that!  I woke up feeling great.  It was the 22^nd of October and I was 1 week over my due date.  I think I would have been OK with that if I hadn’t been prepared to have her 3 weeks ago.

Rita Marie had given me her pager number so that we could touch base every couple of hours.  I called her a couple of times to say that there was still no pain to report.  Around 7 p.m., I called her to tell her that the baby hadn’t moved in a few hours, and I was concerned.  Rita Marie told me to come on in to the hospital to check it out on the monitor.  I was getting good at this!  When I arrived, they hooked me up and the baby’s heart was strong and much to my chagrin, no labor pains showed up on the monitor.  Rita Marie said jokingly, “Look at this monitor of the lady in the other room - she is 6 cm dilated and in real  Rita Marie said she was going to do another internal just in case.  You should have seen her face when she did the internal…I was now 7 cm dilated and 100% effaced.  She said, “You’re not leaving here tonight, you are having a baby!”

She broke my water at 9:00 p.m., and I began to walk around…then the pain came.  It wasn’t too bad at first, and then I couldn’t breathe through it.  I originally wanted to go naturally but quickly changed my mind.  Within a few minutes, 2-3 to be exact, I was hooked up to the epidural and within 10 minutes, the pain was manageable.  Rita Marie told me to get some rest and she would see me in a few hours.  I actually fell asleep for 1 hour.  When I woke up, I felt like I had to push.  I called Rita Marie back in and sure enough the baby’s head was right there.  Rita Marie said, “If you listen to me and push when I tell you to push, you will not tear.”  I listened and focused on every word.  After 3 sets of pushes, my beautiful little baby girl arrived and took her first breath.  I never believed in love at first site until 1:29 a.m. on October 23^rd, when I first saw my daughter.  I wanted to thank Rita Marie for all that she did.  I am amazed at her compassion and love for her profession and I’m so happy that Dr. Adler and Dr. Colon also believe in them!