Declan was due this past Friday, July 29th but our story begins on Sunday, July 24th, my husband's birthday. That morning, I began to feel a period-like cramp in my lower abdomen. I haven't felt anything similar in several months so I wondered if this was the beginning of labor, especially since I had a bloody show the day prior. We headed to hubs' birthday lunch at the Cheesecake Factory with my parents and I noticed the cramp was beginning to recur so we started timing them. They were irregular... Anywhere from 15 to 30 mins apart. This was around 2 pm on Sunday. Little did I know that Saturday was gonna be my last good night of sleep! Sunday night I couldn't fall asleep at all as the cramping progressed and by 4 am these what I now know to officially be contractions were 7 minutes apart. I was so nervous to be sent home by the hospital so I called my ob at 6 am Monday and she recommended I wait until contractions were 4 mins apart for at least two hours before heading to the hospital. My husband wanted to stick to the 5-1-1 rule so we officially left for the hospital at 8:30. I was checked and everyone was stunned that I was already 6-7 cm and 100% effaced!! Apparently my spirits were too high lol. They admitted me and, as I was rolled upstairs, a nurse asked if I would be getting an epidural or if I'd be going naturally since I'd come so far already. When she confirmed that yes, the pain will get worse, I confirmed id be sticking with my original epidural plan. As soon as we got into my room and we got the IV going, I noticed my contractions were really starting to hurt, so I asked for the epidural. I had been extremely nervous to get an epidural but it's true what they say, the contractions are so intense and nearly take your breath away that getting a needle back there sounds like an amazing idea at the time. The pain of the epidural process was a 2/10, not kidding. If your only epidural fear is the pain, get over it now because I totally hyped it up unnecessarily. Once it was in, all contraction pain went away. She had me on a continuous low dose. I was given a button that would give me more if I felt I needed it but I never had to use it. It took me until about 3 pm to dilate to 10 cm. While I waited, I relaxed by eating ice chips, watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians (seriously), laughing and joking with the staff and hubs... I felt like a million bucks. At 3 pm, my OB's midwife was the one on duty at the hospital so she said lets try some practice pushes. I did so well with them that she said I was ready for the real thing and so began an hour and a half of pushing. What's cool is that, although I couldn't feel any pain and I was told when I was contracting and when to push, I eventually could feel the pressure of both his presence down there plus the pressure of a more intense contraction so I actually felt in complete relaxed control of labor. Also, my legs were tingly and felt asleep but I didn't lose all sensation in my lower half, which was another fear I once had. I continued laughing all through labor and, at one point, I told them all to stop making me laugh because I could feel myself laughing him out of me. They told me to go right ahead and I could feel him slide more and more. At 4:25 PM on Monday, July 25th, the day after his daddy's birthday, I laughed out Declan Patrick with KUWTK on in the background, with the help of an epidural, and with a 2nd degree tear. I still kinda blame the laughing on why I tore... Lol. However, this was my best case scenario. I didn't get turned away by the hospital, I was able to have a vaginal delivery, and the epidural was nothing like I thought it would be. The tear was sore but I'm feeling much better now on day 9 and little man slept for eight hours total last night, even if they were in little 2-3 hour segments 😄😊😄😊