"First Time Mom-Vanessa's Story" Vanessa: "Hi my name is Vanessa, I'm 33 years old, this is my first child, and she 1 and a half years old. My pregnancy was very, very easy, thank God. She was a planned pregnancy, it took me about 2 months to get pregnant, and I had a very easy pregnancy, very easy delivery, no complications, I delivered about a week early which is not uncommon, no C-section, no medication, in and out of the hospital in about 3 hours. The epidural I would say was the worst part of it. I tried to hold out as much as I could for the pain, I made it up to 6 cm, and then I just couldn't take it anymore. It did hurt a lot, it felt like electricity going down my spine, and the worst part is, you can't move at all, and I was having contractions all through the procedure. The nurse comes in front of you, and I was like holding onto her, and I was crying, and I just had to breathe in and out, and let the pain pass. I was at New York Hospital in Queens, and they really have a great staff. Everybody that I had interactions with, were very good, very kind, and very helpful. I think maybe if I have a 2nd one, I would try to do it without the epidural, just because the medication not only goes into you, it goes into the baby. It's a little scary when they're so little, so fragile. Life has changed tremendously, everything is about her, no more going out, no more spending money on myself, everything is make sure she has everything first, number one priority, then comes me and dad. Our marriage has definitely strengthened by having the baby, it's brought us a lot closer together, and it's really nice just to be a family."