Every woman that's ever had a baby loves telling the story of how she had said baby. Here's mine.

I was a massively huge pregnant woman. I swear my bump popped out the day I saw those two pink lines, and I just kept getting bigger and bigger as the nine months passed. If I had a dollar for every time someone said I wasn't going to make it to October, or asked if I was having twins, I don't think I'd ever have to work again. The really dumb thing is that I actually started to believe that I would go into labour early. I thought for sure the ultrasound tech made a mistake when she estimated my due date. Maybe my last period wasn't really when I remembered it (fat chance, my cycles are more predictable than the ending of a Disney movie). So as the weeks passed, I grew bigger, more uncomfortable and more impatient.

I was due on October 17. Once October hit, I grew more and more anxious and sleep became a thing of the past. Every night I expected to go into labour, and I would stay up the whole night waiting, and nothing. I got caught up on a lot of bad TV while day after day passed and still nothing.

It was a good thing Nick wasn't working at the time and was willing to come to my OB appointments with me. I have to hand it to him for going back, the first time he came I had my Group B strep test, not something I would normally want him in the room for. But he soldiered on, coming with me to every appointment, asking the Doctor more questions than I could even think of.

Every appointment was the same thing, internal exam with Doc looking puzzled. "Cervix is still high and hard and I can't feel the baby". I would leave the appointment every week and cry the whole way home. If Nick weren't there to console me I'm not sure what I would have done. Once I hit 37 weeks, I was ready to have this baby.

At my 39 week appointment my doctor sent me for an ultrasound to check the position of the baby. I had to have it at the hospital because it was impossible to get into any other imaging centre in this city before my due date. When I got there I found out I had also been scheduled for a non-stress test. The baby wasn't breach. Both her vitals and mine checked out fine. I was booked for another weekly OB appointment at 40 weeks.

I went to the OB two days before my due date. He sent me back to the hospital for another bio physical profile and non stress test. When I got there, the ultrasound clinic was massively overbooked, so they started with the non stress test. The baby's heart rate was a bit lower, my blood pressure was higher, and I passed out in the hospital bed from exhaustion. The nurse at the women's health clinic ordered blood work and another non stress test. Blood work came back OK, but my blood pressure was climbing, and the baby's heart rate was slowing. I finally had my ultrasound and the baby measured 9 pounds 6 ounces. I was told to go see my OB right away.

He gave me two options. Induction or scheduled C section. Knowing that I had nearly ten pounds resting on my cervix and it wasn't softening at all, I knew that an induction would likely lead to a C Section, so I saved myself the trouble and booked the birth of my baby for the next morning at 9 am.

I arrived at the hospital at 7 am and was promptly admitted to the maternal triage. I was hooked up to a bunch of monitors and had my IV inserted. At nine am, I walked to the operating room.

The worst part was the local anaesthetic I received before they installed the spinal block. I was so scared, but it was really no big deal. I instantly felt numb, they laid me down and the angel of an anaesthesiologist did a great job of distracting me until my husband showed up and took over. Poor Nick was a weird shade of pale green, I think he was more nervous than I was.

Nothing will ever compare to the rush of feelings I experienced when I heard her cry for the first time. It was the most beautiful sound I've ever heard. She announced her arrival with a strong, feminine wail that shook me to my very core. It was 9:52 am and I was forever changed.