On Friday, May 24th, 2019, at 10:54 AM (CEST), we welcomed Antonio Ulysses Roper Yearwood into the world.

Apart from me being so hoarse after 3 hours of screaming, he and I are doing as good as can be.

I was surprised myself that this labor was quicker than expected. I started feeling cute, minor contractions around 5 am today, after I lost my mucous plug the night before.

An hour later, the cute contractions started coming in shorter and sharper by each interval. It was no longer cute.

By 7:30 am, I have finished eating my breakfast and grooming myself for the trip to the hospital in between intense contractions. It's go-time.

We finally got to the hospital amid contractions spaced out in under 5 minutes. The midwife then had to check for the baby's heartbeat, my contractions, and how dilated I am.

At around 8:30 am, I was already 8 cms. dilated (full and ready is 10 cms.). We skipped the ultrasound being that I'm only 2 cms. away. So off I went to the delivery room.

I sat on a birthing ball, swayed left and right and bounced gently at every wave. I screamed my angriest AAAAAH!!! in between deep breaths. There was barely time to rest.

My feet were cold but I was sweating. I lay on my left, then right, and went on all fours --- almost like an awkward dance on the operating table. I was writhing in pain so that by around 10 am, I asked for an epidural but was denied because I'm already so far along.

The only thing that separated me from seeing my baby was the pain that I was succumbing to. We were almost there.

So I did the strongest push I could muster and repeatedly imagined my baby's head emerging from me. My dear husband was next to me - fully - by then, his reassuring presence and solid grip lent me more power.

Six minutes shy of 11 am, Antonio Ulysses, our Eño, arrived pink and screaming, in a perfectly beautiful spring day.