Short and sweet: The birth of Jackson

Jackson Thomas Noonan learned to be nice to his mommy even before we welcomed him to the world. I was truly blessed with an amazing first time birth experience, all thanks to our little bundle of joy. I went to prenatal yoga for almost 10 months listening to birth stories that truly gave me nightmares when I would go to sleep: five days of labor, epidural only working on one half of her body, emergency C-section after 4 hours of pushing, etc. I was ready for all hell to break loose, literally, after my water broke at home on Thursday at 8 p.m. But then I got to the hospital, fell in love with what had to be the nicest nurse ever, had an epidural that did wonders, actually took a nap with my husband at 12 a.m., pushed for 26 minutes and then cried the happiest tears when our beautiful son was born at 4:14 a.m.

My message to all those amazing women out there going through this for the first time; don’t fear the worst—dream about this story instead. You can do this!

Send us your birth story! Whether you had a home birth, hospital birth, 37-hour labor or emergency C-section, we’d love to read the tale of your little one’s grand entrance. Write up your birth story (click here for tips on getting started) and email it, along with a few photos, to birthstory@pnmag.com. We’ll share it on our Birth Day blog and may even print it in an upcoming issue!