This is a long story, but the context is important. I was having contractions and lots of pelvic pressure at 33 weeks and 2 days and I was home alone. I called my boyfriend at work and told him I was pretty sure I was in labor and he would probably need to come home. I called the hospital triage and they advised us to come in to get checked and to make sure we brought a hospital bag just to be safe. So we get to labor and delivery and they check my cervix for the first time during the pregnancy to get a baseline and see if I was dilated at all. I was 80% effaced but my cervix was closed so they held me for 2 hours and checked me again. There was no change in my cervix but my contractions were more frequent, longer, and much more intense and instead of just being like period cramps they were going through to my back too so they kept me for another 2 hours in case I really was in labor. 2 hours later and my contractions had started to get better and there was still no cervix change so they diagnosed it as false labor and sent me home, told me to go to my prenatal the next day as planned. I got absolutely no sleep that night because I was still having moderately strong contractions every 5-10 minutes but by morning I was feeling very flu like (nausea, chills, like I was going to have diarrhea), especially while having contractions. At my appointment they checked my cervix again since I was still contacting and I was still 80% effaced with no dilation and they said I was just uncomfortable because of how low she was sitting in my pelvis (no shit). I asked if there was anything I could try to help with the contractions and they said unfortunately I'd just have to suffer through it until I was induced at 39 weeks. My boyfriend tried to make light of the situation by saying that I got my wish of her not jamming into my ribcage anymore and I said I wasn't sure how I was going to make it through the next month and a half like this. Well, I should have known to be careful what I say. I put my shorts back on and got down from the exam table and my water immediately broke. I was shocked and having strong contractions and yelled for my boyfriend to get the doctor back in. When he opened the door I started to groan and he just said "help?" As he didn't know what was going on with me. When they came in I was hysterical and told them my water broke so they took me up to labor and delivery and boyfriend was telling me to breathe and keeping me in good spirits. They put me in a room and I was in so much pain. I was groaning and screamed a bit with the contractions but they had to get the wedge under my butt to do a cervix check. I was at 8cm already so they moved me to a delivery room and asked if I wanted an epidural. Originally my plan was not to get one but I was having the worst contraction of the entire process when they asked me so I agreed to get one but in the time it took them to explain the risk, sign the consent form, and staet sterilizing my back I felt the urge to push. I asked if they could give me anything at all but the labor nurse looked me in the eyes and said "anything I give you will skip you and go straight to baby. You're going to have this baby all natural there's no other way and you'll do great". Mind you, the whole process went so quickly that I hadn't even been formally admitted yet. Boyfriend had my left leg and a nurse had my right leg and I had the labor team to coach me since we hadn't taken any prenatal classes. He was super calm through the whole thing and helped me curl my head forward since my neck muscles were far from my focus and he helped push my knees back so I could get the leverage to push. It felt like 5 minutes of pushing but they told me it was closer to 40. The pushing phase was a lot a lot A LOT of pressure but it didn't hurt hardly at all except when they were checking her position. My water broke at 2pm and our daughter was born at 3:23pm. She's a 33 week preemie but has been breathing and maintaining temperature on her own. I had 2 "knee scrape" tears that didn't bleed and didn't need any stitches and I felt like a superhero after giving birth. Ella Louise was due October 12th but she made her entrance into the world on August 27th and she is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.