Finally getting around to writing this down now that my son is over a year old haha. I know it's long but stay with me!

I was diagnosed with an "irritable uterus" early in pregnancy. I basically had Braxton Hicks contractions every 5-10 minutes for 4 months which is about as awesome as it sounds.

I woke up a couple of minutes before my alarm on Saturday and decided to have a shower and shave my legs etc because we had an appointment at the hospital for a NST because I was 41 weeks lol. We went in, everything looked normal, my Braxton Hicks were showing up on the monitor like they always did but the nurse and I agreed I wasn't in labour. The doctor happened to come by and he checked me and said "oh well you're about 3cm dilated so it could be any day now." He suggested I come back in in a few days for another NST if baby hadn't arrived yet.

At this point it was 11:30, and we left the hospital and went to run a few errands. At about 12:45 I started feeling uncomfortable and noticed my Braxton Hicks were sort of wrapping around to my back. I mentioned it to my husband and he suggested we take a break from our errands and go get lunch. I went to the bathroom when we got to the restaurant at 1 and noticed a bit of blood so I excitedly said to my husband "I think I might finally be in early labour!" So we ordered our food, and as we waited for it to arrive I got more and more uncomfortable. By the time it got to the table at 1:15, I took one bite and asked for it to be packed up because I wanted to go lie down at home. I think the server thought I was totally nuts haha

So we drove home and I headed up to the bathroom again when we got there at 1:30. There was more blood, and at this point I was starting to feel nauseous and I was definitely having back labour. I spent some time on my hands and knees on the couch with my amazing husband providing counter pressure on my back during contractions. Apparently he was also timing them but I was so focused I didn't notice. At about 1pm he says to me "I really think we should go to the hospital - your contractions are only 2 minutes apart and lasting like 2 minutes!" And I laughed at him and said "no I don't want to go yet - I hate hospitals and I know they're just going to tell me to go home and wait anyway." He kept bugging me about this for the next half hour until I threw up at about 2:30 and finally agreed to go. The 10 minutes in the car was honestly the worst 10 minutes of my LIFE. I was having back labour and because I was sitting I could do anything to get more comfortable. Finally we got to the hospital and headed up to L&D.; I stubbornly took the stairs because "I was just in early labour and was totally capable!"

I crawled onto the bed so the nurse could check me and at this point the pressure was so awful that I threw up again and said to my husband "I know I was so determined to do this naturally but I think I need an epidural!" And then the nurse laughs and says to me "Oooook do you want the good news or the bad news?" And I was like "oh god you're sending me home aren't you!" And she laughs again and says "well you can't have the epidural... because baby's head is in the birth canal already."

So my husband helped me walk to to the next room because they didn't have the equipment to deliver in the assessment room and she starts paging like any doctor in the hospital. I started pushing involuntarily and she just says "work with your body!" So I did, and 20 Minutes of pushing later, the amazing nurse caught my baby as he practically somersaulted into the world at 3:18pm! The doctor didn't make it and I was so pleased to have my son delivered by my amazing nurse.

So ladies - just because they tell you labour can take days doesn't mean it will 😂 it might only be 2 hours and 45 minutes.