National-holiday

On the terrible day of September 11th, 2001, one woman learned how motherhood changes everything.

yvette and daughter christiana

Yvette Manessis Corporon: My daughter was born on May 6, 2001, at Lenox Hill Hospital on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. After nine hours of labor and 50 minutes of pushing (thank goodness for ample Greek hips and whoever invented the epidural), Christiana made her grand entrance into the world. My husband Dave beamed with love and pride as he took our freshly swaddled baby and placed her in my arms. Bursting with emotion, I looked down at her little pink face and couldn't believe how lucky I was to be holding this perfect little baby girl in my arms.

But that's not the day I became a mother.

On September 11, 2001, Christiana was 4 months old and I was still enjoying an extended maternity leave from my life as a news producer for WCBS in New York. Dave, a cameraman for Fox5 in New York, called me as I was feeding our Christiana and told me what had happened less than a mile away, just across the river from our apartment -- where our beautiful baby sat in her bouncy seat playing with her stuffed bear.