This may be a little long but First, my little one was born on December 19th weighing 6lbs 12oz. He was 19 and 3/4 inches long. It started when I had my weekly appointment on Friday, I had been having non painful contractions that were consistent every 20 minutes. I just considered them Braxton hicks. So I get to my appointment and I mention it to my OB and she just said to keep an eye on it. She checks my dilation and I was barely 1cm and still very high. So I was disappointed but also knew i was only 38 weeks that day. The next day I started getting cramps that felt like period cramps. They weren't at all unbearable but they were more than the Braxton hicks I had been feeling the day before. So they go on alll day long and as the day went on they got more painful. They were within happening consistently within 5-7 minutes. I coach cheerleading so that night I went to coach practice. My boyfriend drove me however because it was snowing and my car sucks in the snow. So while I'm there it's getting pretty painful but I'm able to talk through them still. I called my doctor and they told me to go in to the hospital to get checked if I thought I should. So I went in, and they saw I was having consistent contractions but when they checked me I was still only 1 cm and high. They gave me ambien so I could sleep through the night. I left the hospital around 6/6:30. I went home afterwards and when I went to bed I just couldn't sleep they were getting very painful. So around 1:30am I woke my boyfriend up and told him I couldn't sleep and I think we should go back to the hospital. We get there and again they check me and I was still only 2cm!!! They told me I was having false labor so I accepted it and went home. The next day, which was Sunday, I was having them consistently all day. I went in to work (I work with a girl who has Down syndrome) and brought her to a Christmas party she really wanted to go to. My boyfriend drove us because I didn't trust myself  driving with the amount of pain I was in. I felt it a lot in my back as well as my stomach. So while we're at the party they got so bad I couldn't walk or talk through them so I told the girl I work with I needed to go home and I'm very sorry. She was completely understanding and so we dropped her off. I got home and felt like I was dying. The pain was so unbearable I couldn't think they could get any worse. But they did. They were coming every 2-3 minutes lasting about a minute or a little more. My mom and boyfriend kept insisting we go to the hospital but I kept saying no as I didn't want to get sent home again. Around 4pm I gave in and said to get me to the damn hospital. We get there, and wait and wait for the doctor to check me. He finally does and says I'm nearly 6cm and 80% effaced! I was so happy to hear this as I'd been in labor already for a very long time. So they brought me up to my delivery room and I got the epidural. The pain was terrible. I lost my mucus plug at cm and after the epidural I felt great! So I took a nap and I woke up to extreme back pain and a little in my stomach for every contraction. They came so frequently they never stopped. They checked and I was still not even 8cm. They had to give me a stronger version of the epi 5 times as it only lasted about 1 1/2 to 2 hours each time they did it. The epidural did not work the way it was supposed to and I was still in excruciating pain. Turns out baby was face up and I was in terrible back labor. Makes total sense now. They tried a couple things to turn him but at this point they've given me so much medication I could control or feel anything from the waist down.  After hours and hours of this, Sunday morning came and around 9 am the doctor said I could start to push. The pushing was the easiest part of my whole birth. I could feel any ring of fire  or any pain at all, it was just very hard to push as I couldn't feel anything. I got the mirror to help and after an hour of pushing my baby boy was brought into this world at 9:58 am on Sunday December 19th. It was a very long and hard labor but it was totally and completely worth every second. I'll never forget holding him for the first time.