SATURDAY (FEB. 25) - Marc and Shierlene Yalong are the proud parents of a baby girl, Shierell. Shierell was born at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., USA on Feb. 25, 1995 at 6:10 a.m. The baby weighed 6.8 lbs. And was 20 inches in length. The doctor who delivered her was Dr. Eric Widra, and the nurses who assisted him were Charlotte and Lucy.

Labor started on Friday, February 24 at 3:00 a.m. During labor, exciting events occurred.

At nine in the morning of Friday, father and mother-to-be rushed to the hospital thinking that it was the most awaited time - the "baby delivery time." Everything was all set, two bags were on hand, one for the father and the other for the mother-to-be. The camcorder set was brought along, only to find out that it was not the "big day" yet! Home was the next destination for the overanxious parents-to-be.

Friday night, at half past ten, the contraction became more intense - 60 seconds every five minutes. The couple called the doctor and they were advised to head off to the hospital. Again, with two bags on hand, but this time without the camcorder, the expectant parents rushed off to the hospital.

On the way to the hospital, something even more exciting happened - Marc's car stalled - in front of Vice President Gore's house! Being in front of the VP's house, a lot of police patrol came passing by. For thirty minutes, Marc futilely tried everything to get the car restarted but to no avail. Finally, Marc decided to let Shierlene take a cab to the hospital, and that he would follow and meet her there. A policeman hailed a cab for her. What a lucky coincidence - the cab driver's wife is a Filipina! He was so concerned and nice that he did not let Shierlene pay. His only request was for her to call him after the baby was born. Marc kept trying to get the car restarted. Forty-five minutes later, still no luck and the battery getting weak. Marc getting upset and worried that he would not be beside Shierlene when she gives birth, decided to leave the car there and just take a cab to the hospital. Empty cabs were hard to find it being a Friday (TGIF "Thank God It's Friday") - cabs were full of barhoppers and partygoers on their way home. A cab finally stopped at him - that was 2:30 in the morning. Panicky, he asked the driver to take him to Sibley Hospital. He did not realize that the reason the cab stopped was because the passenger (Edith Yalong, his mom) asked the driver to picked him up. So, off they went to the hospital.

When Marc arrived at the hospital, he immediately went to the Labor and Delivery Room (LDR) floor. Then he headed straight to the nurses' station and to Marc's surprise, Shierlene was there chatting relaxingly with the nurses.

As soon as Marc and Shierlene were sent into the LDR, Charlotte, the nurse started to prep Shierlene - the time was three o'clock in the morning. At 4:00 a.m., Dr. Widra arrived and checked on Shierlene's condition. The doctor asked Shierlene if she would like any epidural, an anaesthetic for child delivery. Shierlene told the doctor that she will try to give birth without any anaesthetics. However, at 5:30 a.m., Charlotte gave Shierlene a I.V. injection. The nurse told them to wait for fifteen minutes for the medication to take effect. Thinking that it was some sort of relaxant (it was apparently an inducer), the couple laid back and tried to get some rest. Fifteen minutes later, as the nurse indicated, the mother-to-be grabbed Marc's hand and said that the contraction was much more intense than before. A few minutes later, the doctor came and said that Shierlene was ready to give birth. Finally, at 6:10 a.m., Shierell was born to Marc and Shierlene. - MY