Natural Labor

Okay, this is long overdue and if you've heard it before, skip to the next post. First, I have no idea how long I was actually in labor because my contractions with baby #2 were so erratic. I called my midwife twice. Each time she said wait for them to be every 4-5 minutes for an hour, and that they were also supposed to take my breath away and/or bring me to my knees. As, I stated from my post on the 19th. I was already 4 cm (for those of you who don't know how far you have to go - it's 10 cm) however, my cervix was still posterior and that's why it hurt so bad when she checked me. SO anyways, I had random contractions all Thursday the day before. I had strong contractions at 2am for an hour and a half and woke up the next morning totally disappointed. On Friday I had a total repeat of Thursday, contractions but nothing really strong and inconsistant. At 4:30 on Friday they were every 6-7 minutes, but not bringing me to my knees. At 7 pm Leslie my midwife called me to see how things were going and told me she had bible study at her house until 9. I told her our plan was to eat, clean up the house a little bit, drop Teague off at my mom's house, then head to the hospital before 8:30. She said call her when we were on our way so she could contact OB to let them know I was coming. On the drive over to my mom's house I thought my contractions had stopped, but they just slowed down - a lot. I thought, great, they're going to send me home and I'm going to look like a total fool. SO at the hospital I was monitored for about an hour before Terry the other midwife came in and said get up and walk around, I hate all this stuff on. 15 minutes later Leslie arrived, checked me and I was 6 cm and 95% effaced. Hallelujah! She broke my water, I ordered the epidural. Then my contractions really started coming. All the days and weeks that I had been praying for pain (because that meant I was in labor) came - in the biggest way ever. The first big one came and I breathed through it. Okay, I can do this. 30 seconds later the next one came, again thinking I can do this. Then, they got so aweful, I thought I was going to die. Luckily for me it lasted only an hour when Leslie said if you feel the urge to push then push. So I did. I never would have thought that pushing would be a relief from the pain. The pressure from Finley's head hurt, but that was nothing compared to contractions. 15 minutes later, she was born! I had a little tear but nothing that needed stitches this time. Right after I had Finley, the anesthesiologist came down the hall in a panic looking for my room and my nurse said the baby was already born. It took him so long because he was in surgery with a 7-year-old who was having an emergency appendectomy.