Nicole: I Owe This Baby My Life

Over the past year, Nicole Richie has gone from "bad decision to bad decision" to blessed event.

After days of hype, the starlet's sit-down with Diane Sawyer finally aired Thursday morning, with the expectant Richie not only apologetic over her ill-fated driving-under-the-influence excursion last December but crediting it for turning her life around.

"I literally thought I was okay to drive, and clearly wasn't," the 25-year-old said on Good Morning America. "It was bad decision after bad decision after bad decision. It's been a pattern in my life. When I get into trouble, I try to get out of it...ever since I was little."

Hence her original not-guilty plea to the DUI charge, something she ultimately changed to guilty after reassessing her responsibilities and watching a particularly disturbing report on the news about children who had been killed by drunk drivers.

"At that moment, I literally felt like the worst person in the world for even trying to get out of the situation.

"I really wasn't learning anything from that," she said of her penchant for getting out of trouble first, learning lessons later. She added that her behavior pattern had simply led to her to make "mistake after mistake after mistake."

Of her exploits over the last year, Richie, who was accompanied during the interview by rocker beau Joel Madden, said she simply "wasn't growing, I wasn't going anywhere, and I saw myself going down that road again with this particular situation."

While in the past, Richie has openly admitted to taking drugs and, in 2003, attended court-ordered rehab after cops found her with a balloon of heroin, she told Sawyer that on Dec. 11, she had smoked marijuana and taken a Vicodin, for which she didn't have a prescription, to treat menstrual cramps—though had done nothing else.

"Just marijuana," she said. "I had Vicodin in my system from that day. I never in my head thought that could play a part in your driving. Like, never did I think that."

Richie also explained how exactly she found herself heading the wrong way down a Los Angeles freeway, before simply parking in the HOV lane.

"I got confused," she said of her orientation. "It was a new neighborhood for me...I just stopped."

Of how she felt when the police arrived, Richie said, "Scared would be the core word."

For his part, Madden, who lives the sort of rock lifestyle that involves studying the Bible, he said Richie's bust was a make-or-break situation for the couple.

"This is a great time to walk away," he says he remembered thinking at the time, adding that he had already come up with an exit strategy. "Nicole, it's been great, but you just freaked me out."

Madden, however, opted to "go my gut, and you know, my gut with Nicole has always been she's a great woman."

As for whether a repeat of the situation may occur down the line, both responded in the negative.

"There would no question, 'cause I don't have time for that," Madden said. "I bet on her. And I won."

As for Richie, four months along in her pregnancy, she said there is "absolutely no way" she would fall. When pressed by Sawyer as to how she could be so sure she'd stick to the straight and narrow, she admitted it was "because I never took it seriously before."

"I owe this baby my life. I owe this baby everything, and I have a responsibility now for someone else. I have to set the right examples. I want to be the best parent I can be. I would really want to be someone my child would look up to."

As for the child, the couple does not yet know whether they're expecting a boy or a girl, and Richie said they're "going to try and hold out" on finding out for as long as possible.

She said she discovered she was pregnant after taking five home-pregnancy tests.

"I didn't believe it," she said. "It was my best friend and I, and we were at her house. And she was like, 'You're definitely pregnant.' I actually didn't even really believe it until I heard the heartbeat."

Madden recalled breaking the news to Lionel Richie, the baby's soon-to-be grandfather.

"He was really quiet," he said, adding that the Grammy winner at first thought the call was to inform him Richie had gotten into trouble. Finally, the elder Richie composed himself and told the couple, "Now you're going to get to experience everything I have!"

Madden and Richie have begun keeping a video diary of the pregnancy, which they hope to one day share with their offspring. However, the twosome is more than aware that there will be a four-day gap in the recording.

Richie has been ordered to spend four days in jail before Sept. 28.

"She's doing what she has to do. She's paying her debt," Madden said.

Richie said she's "afraid of the unknown" but "not really afraid of jail."

As for criticism that's cropped up about the sentence possibly not being harsh enough punishment for the severity of her crime, Richie simply said, "That's not really up to me."