On Monday March 15 1999 I had exactly 2 weeks to go until my due date which was the 29th of March. My mother-in-law, father-in-law and sister-in-law surprised us with KFC for supper and an ice cream cake from DQ. As we still had no girls names picked out and no middle name for a boy we spent most of the evening mulling over names and playing cards. Everyone left around 8:30 and around 9:00 I had to pee so I went and did my business and lost my mucus plug (gross I know) so I went back to the living room and say to my husband Steve "Uh honey I just lost my mucus plug" . Well he off the couch & said what does that mean. Well I said we could be going to the hospital in the next several hours or not for another 2 weeks, it's hard to say. We got out what to expect when your expecting and read everything about labour and delivery and talked for several hours. I had an awful time sleeping that night just waiting to see if anything would happen. I woke up at 4:00 in the morning feeling more damp then I ever had and wondered if my water was slowly leaking. (I had been like this for a few weeks but just thought it was normal discharge - it wasn't). At 6:30 I called my girlfriend to ask what she thought. She was stumped and suggested calling the Dr. at a decent hour. At 9:00 a.m I called the office and they said to call the hospital and have them call me when my Dr. arrived for rounds so I could be checked out then. At 10:00 a.m. my Dr called me herself and asked me to come up right away. Steve happened to be off that day and asked if he should go too. I said No I will be home in half an hour and probably go 2 weeks late! Well I was leaking amniotic fluid so I had an ultrasound right away to make sure there was still plenty of fluid there. Everything looked OK but because I had been leaking for so long my Dr. wanted to induce labour to reduce the risk of infection. She wasn't sure how they were going to manage it though as we have a very small hospital & it was March break and they were very short staffed. I tried to call Steve to let him know that I may be induced today, but I just got the call answer (he does not know how to use call waiting). He was talking to his brother at the time making dinner plans for us for that night!! So I left a message for him to get into the shower & get ready as I would be home hopefully soon to pack a bag & tie up a few loose ends at home. Well he showered and rushed right up to the hospital. After about 2 hours we got the word that it was a go. I had to beg to go home to pack my bag etc. Finally they let me have 30 min. I came home & made what seemed to be 100 phone calls packed my bag & we were back at the hospital. Finally at 2:30 p.m March 16 1999 they started the oxytocin drip. I felt the first very minor contractions at 6:30. Because I had been induced I had to had a nurse there every single minute and had to have my vitals and the baby's vitals done every 30 minutes. At 10:00 p.m my Dr. came in to check me and I wasn't quite at one cm!! So the decision was made to transfer me to a larger hospital an hour away. So at midnight I left Palmerston hospital headed for Stratford General Hospital in the ambulance. Steve went home before heading to Stratford and called our families to let them know what was up. Steve's brother & sister-in-law live in Stratford so I was quite surprised to have my sister-in-law greet me at the ambulance doors at the hospital. It was so great to see a familiar face. The Dr. there immediately broke my water and within about 3 minutes I was having some heavy duty contractions every 2 minutes. I still never dialated and was having a very painful go of it. Steve had been at me for hours to have the epidural and when the nurse finally said that I was still only 1 cm at 5 am I had the epidural. I was in HEAVEN let me tell you. Unfortunaltely it relaxed me so much that labour stopped completely and I had to be put back on the oxytocin. At 7:15 I sent Steve out for breakfast and for him to have a little break. The cafeteria wasn't open yet so he went to a diner a few blocks away. At 7:30 the Dr. came in to tell me that his shift was done at 8:00 a.m. and that the new Dr. would be coming in to talk to me. I was going to have to have a C-section. Good let's just get this kid out. My sister-in-law, Annie decided that she had better go track Steve down, so she left. At 7:45 a.m the nurse said you have had several big contractions one on top of the other I am going to check you again, sure enough in 15 minutes I had gone from 2 cm. to almost 10cm. The c-section was called off. Steve had ordered steak and eggs, and had just dipped his bread into the first egg when the waitress came over and said "the hospital called your wife is ready get back there now!! He grabbed the steak in his hand gave the waitress a twenty and bolted. He ate the steak with his hands in the van. Well things still moved relatively slow and at noon I was finally given the OK to push. At 12:51 p.m March 17, 1999 my beautiful baby girl entered the world weighing 6 lbs 13 oz. What a magical, magical day(s) and one that I run through my head all the time. Truly a day I will never forget. Steve who did not want to be in the delivery not only stayed but the Dr. on a couple of occasions had to ask him to move his head she couldn't see!!