Let me bring you up to speed

Where have I been for the past week? Here's what happened last Monday....

contractions started on Monday morning, but they were very sporadic. I had my regular 40 week appointment that day, so I didn't call the office. When I went to the appointment, the doctor told me things had started, but I hadn't dropped yet so I most likely had a few more days.

At home, the contractions continued, but still very light and I tried to time them, but they weren't coming in any kind of interval. After dinner we were watching TV, and the contractions started coming a little faster -they were about every 30 minutes at that point. I knew I had some more time so I tried to sleep, but of course I couldn't.

Finally around midnight we talked about calling the doctor, but they were still about 10-15 minutes apart, so we decided to wait another hour. At 1, the contractions were coming faster - we called, but the midwife told me I was just coming out of early labor and to stay home for a few more hours. I KNEW she was wrong, but I didn't have it in me to argue with her. The contractions hurt way too much for me to be just coming out of early labor. We tried to stay home a little longer, but 45 minutes later I knew we had to go to the hospital, no matter what the midwife said.

We left for the hospital around 3, and my god, the car ride was a nightmare. I swear it sped up my contractions. When we left the house they were every 5-8 minutes apart, but in the car they were coming every 2-3, and they really REALLY hurt.

By the time we were triaged, I was actually yelling in pain when they come. By the time the midwife FINALLY came to check me, she told me I was 10 cm dilated and I could start pushing at any time. She did give me the option of an epidural, and she told me it would probably delay labor, and I could be done pushing in as little as 15 minutes. She really didn't want me to get it, but, at that point (after hearing someone in the next room over who didn't get into the labor room fast enough have her baby in triage) I needed the epidural. I didn't plan on natural birth and I had no idea how to work through that pain. So they gave in and I got the epidural. As soon as I got it, and it had kicked in (about 10 minutes after I got it) things went into high gear. At 6:13am, two hours after we got to the hospital, Baby Girl came into the world!