When I became pregnant again, we were very happy. As Jason was born at 7 months though, my pregnancy was immediately diagnosed as a "high risk pregnancy", meaning 2 weekly checkups and as from 5 months pregnancy I had to see the doctor every week.

Around 6 months of pregnancy, we moved to Bergenfield, which meant that I had to change doctors. I found a good doctor's office in Englewood.

At 7 months and 1/2, the doctor found my cervix effaced and 2 cm dilated. They put me on bedrest immediately and Jason had to go to the day care center. The good thing was that I didn't have to go to the hospital this time. I could stay home and could even work on my laptop computer from the bed.

2 weeks after, I was 4 cm dilated and I was told I could deliver anytime now. The only thing I was hoping for was to come home with a healthy baby after the delivery and not having to breastfeed with bottles and having to pump at a machine.

Sara was happy in my belly and decided to stay there until 3 weeks before her due date.

It was 9 PM on April 1st when we were at home and I was watching television, when suddenly I felt something dripping between my legs. At first, I thought I might be leaking amniotic fluid, but when I checked, I noticed that I was bleeding heavily. Soon after I also passed clots. I immediately called the doctor and our friend Leen, who was going to baby-sit and told Victor to get ready to go to the hospital.

It must have been almost 10, when I was admitted in the labor and delivery department in Englewood Hospital. Contrarily to the New York University Hospital in April 1999, they had birthing rooms, where labor and delivery take place in the same room (when there are no complications).

They put me on a monitor, they took blood and I got and IV. The doctor came quickly and told me that the placenta was detaching from the uterus. He was not happy with that and ordered already an operation room and 2 bags of blood in case there would be any complications.

He attached a monitor on the head of the baby and as there was no sign of contractions, they gave me Oxitocyn to induce the delivery. The contractions came quickly, after half an hour or so, I got a few painful contractions and the doctor gave me permission to push.

A few minutes after, at 11.54 PM, Sara was born. After a first checkup, they put her on my belly and I could start feeding her immediately.

Her weight was 7.4 and I was so happy that she was healthy and that she could come home with me. The whole team of doctors and this nice hospital has given me a birth experience that was much better than when Jason was born. I was also very happy that Victor was there with me to witness the birth of our baby girl.