The long awaited day finally came. May is here and she is cute as ever. We can't believe we're parents to such a beautiful and happy little girl. I'll break down the story of her delivery.

The morning of December 12th, I woke up to what felt like cramps. I was 40 weeks and 4 days pregnant and had a doctor's appointment at 9:45 that morning. The appointment was to monitor how May was doing, as she was overdue. The cramps where mild and I didn't want to over excite myself because for the weeks before, I had not felt anything close to being in labor. When I went to the appointment, I was given my schedule for an induction on the 18th at 7:30 am. I was hooked up to the monitors and at first the doctor was not happy with the results. May was not moving much and her heartrate was low. He wanted me to have an ultrasound done but as I waited for another woman to finish hers, May began to move and the results were more pleasing. The doctor checked me and found that I was 80% effaced and 1.5 cm. This made me happy because I was finally dilated. He also asked if I was feeling the contractions, that I was having, which I replied yes. He said that he didn't think I would make it to the date of the induction and because of the results of the fetal monitoring, he scheduled me for an ultrasound and another Non-Stress Test, that Friday. He said I'd mostly have her by the weekend.

I left feeling happy there was more progress but also concerned about the results of the test. I continued having the contractions throughout the day and Rex and I decided to walk, to help speed the process. It didn't work and by 4 pm that evening, my contractions were still 10 minutes apart and 20 seconds long. By 7 pm, I started feeling stronger contractions that were lasting longer and thought, "Hey, May might actually be born on 12/12/12." The contractions were very uncomfortable and the pain level was around 4. Prior to visiting the hospital, my office requires calling the on call doctor who clears you for the go. I called and he told me to wait until they were 4 to 5 minutes apart. Waiting was hard, as I was tired and the contractions were getting stronger. I tried to go to sleep and all I could think was, "It's going to be a long night."

I timed them, and at around 11 pm, they were much closer together. I called the doctor and he gave me the OK to go the hospital. We arrived at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, 25 minutes later. I was in pain and we took the elevator up to the fourth floor for the maternity ward. I was taken back to triage, where the nurse checked me and said I was 3.5 cm dilated. She confirmed I was in labor. She asked if I wanted to get an epidural then. I replied I did want the epidural but I'd wait it out. As I waited to be admitted, the contractions got stronger and more painful. The nurse appeared after a while to say I was admitted and as I was moving from the bed to wheelchair to go to labor and delivery, I felt a few drops of water and the nurse tested it and saw it was amniotic fluid.  I was settled in my room and was checked and the nurse found that I was 4 cm. I got the epidural then. I had a contraction while getting the epidural. Not long after getting epidural, I felt a gush of water and knew my water had broke. The contractions started to feel like pressure and I felt better. It was about 2 am around this time and I decided to try get some sleep to save energy for pushing.

The nurse keep coming in and checking the results of my fetal monitor. At one point I was given oxygen. Soon the doctor came in and they both were looking at the monitor results. After a little while he told me that the heartrate kept dropping and they were concerned. He checked me and said I was around 6 cm dilated. He left and shortly came back in and said that due to the results of the monitor, and how many more hours I had left to start pushing, he advised that I get an emergency C-Section. My thought went back to what my mom told me when I was born, that she had to get an emergency C-Section due to the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck. I thought this might be the same case with May. I agreed to the C-Section, and very quickly things changed. Rex was given scrubs to change into and not long after I was taken to the operating room. I was prepped for surgery and at 6:19 am on Dec 13th, May entered the world. Upon hearing her first cries, I cried. I couldn't control my tears. The nurse brought her to my head after they were done cleaning her off and I kissed her cheek. She weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces, and was 21 inches long.

We spent 3 days in the hospital and got discharged early due to being healthy on both accounts. We are absolutely in love and May is so adorable. Though the emergency c-section was kind of scary, I am happy that she is healthy and safe. I know my recovery process will take a while. So far though, with all the help, it hasn't been too bad.