The Day I Became a MomIncredible, unforgettable, the best day ever. These are often terms new parents use to express how it feels when you welcome a new life in to this world. Mine is no different. It’s been 5 years that Jasmine came to My life though I remember it like it was yesterday. As my first blog post on Empire Weekly: A Mom’s Point of View, I am going to share my experience of the day when my whole world changed. The day that I experience more love than I thought my heart could hold. The day my priorities changed dramatically. The day I became a mom.How the Day Began…It was October 23rd around 1 AM. I woke up to feeling tightening in my belly and back. It was different than the Braxton Hicks that I had experienced periodically before. I was so nervous. My due date was for October 24th. The very next day. I knew that this was the real deal and though I had prepared for everything that we needed, suddenly I was lost, panicking that I had missed something important for our little girl’s arrival. Millions of thoughts flooded my brain as I lay there in bed with the ebb and flow of the oncoming labor, trying to be quiet and count how long I had between them. I got a notebook and began writing down every time the contractions came.I spent a lot of the day checking in with my doctor and updating them on my progress. I walked and walked up and down the neighborhood road and in the park. Anything I could do to progress the labor. Eventually around 3 PM…14 hours into active labor. I was desperate to go to the hospital. My doctor finally told me to head on in and get checked out. When I arrived at the hospital I was checked in rather quickly and I started being monitored. The labor was kind of stuck in place. Constant contractions but no progress in dilation. My nurse came in gave me something per the doctor’s order. It was a shot of something that was to calm me down. They advised me that it was a good idea because I was panicked and it was causing my labor to stop. Outwardly I thought I was VERY calm. Internally I was losing it. I have always had a fear of surgery and giving birth. Irrational at best. I knew this. Now they knew it too. The nurse stabbed me in the leg and told me not to worry. That I would be feeling great soon and that the med was like top shelf tequila… then they sent me home and told me that once I start feeling the contractions again to come back. At the time we lived at least a half hour from the hospital. Fear crept in that I would have this kid on the drive or at home. I begged them to admit me, to let me stay, to no avail. It was about 7 PM and we started our defeated way home.The Real Journey BeginsI got as cozy as one could that is still contracting regularly in my big leather recliner that I had become found of as of late since I had to sleep sitting up over the last few weeks leading up to this moment. I was in a haze for sure. The nurse was right on the button with the top shelf tequila bit. I don’t remember much from this part, but I have been told I was a real chatty Cathy on this medicine. Loose lipped and “wasted”. Roughly 2 hours in I started feeling those contractions coming on WAY stronger that I had before and they were seconds apart. We headed back to the hospital.We got there and went through the whole check in process again. Got all connected to the monitors and began the waiting game. I really don’t remember much from this part. I was exhausted. I had not slept since 1 AM and it was nearing midnight of the 24th. I know that once admitted they had me rolling on a giant medicine ball and the Nurse kept asking me questions…important questions and every time she would talk another contraction would come on. STRONG. At one point I had told her to stop talking until it was over because I couldn’t hear her over the contractions. Today it is quite comical. That day… not so much. After all the questions were answered they got me up and made me walk around the hospital corridor. Over and over. Still I was not dilating much. Eventually they got me back in bed and let me have the epidural. Things got better for me after that. The pain subsided. The relief was unreal. The only downside was that I could not hold up my own legs for pushing.The Big PushFinally, it was time. I had gotten to a 10. The nurse came back in with the doctor and they got worry in their eyes. I had reversed. I started going to a 9. They told me that they were going to have to give me Pitocin to get me back on track and moving forward. I started to push. I can tell you I did not like it. Not one bit. I still felt so defeated. I did not think I could keep it up. I remember they were telling me that the baby and I were getting fevers. I kept panicking. I remember asking how much longer did I have to keep going. I distinctly remember that the nurse told me that I would have to keep pushing for at least 2 more hours if I kept pushing the way I was. She made me feel like a failure. I would never wish that experience on anyone.About a half hour later my daughter came in to this world. October 24th at 3:25 AM, on her due date. Healthy and the most perfect thing I had ever laid eyes on. The fever had gone from us both and I was in shock that I had gotten though one of the hardest things I had ever done. Though I was practically alone in this experience, I had still done it and I had received the biggest blessing. Jasmine Nichole.This little girl has shown me a whole new level of what it is to love and be loved. I am grateful and overjoyed to be a mother and to have embarked on this adventure.-S