At 41 weeks 4 days I started into early labor with period like cramps starting that night. Through the night they got stronger and closer together to the point that they were about three minutes apart. I had to focus on my breathing to get through them but was okay in between. I didn't get much sleep at all that night. Wednesday morning things slowed down a lot and ended up fizzling out despite every effort to keep them coming. I was scheduled for induction on Thursday and was desperately hoping to avoid that. Wednesday night things picked back up and got prett strong to the point I just really had to focus on each contraction and try to rest in between, which was near impossible. They were only about five minutes apart at this point. Thursday morning they continued but still 5-7 minutes apart. We went to the hospital for the induction, I was 3cm dialated and 75-80% effaced. I didn't need ripening so we sat around all day waiting for a bed where they could start pitocin. Finally Thursday night we got a bed, I got a walking epidural and had the pitocin started. At first it was fine but they keep increasing pitocin every 15-30 minutes until they get the contractions where they want them. After they increased the pitocin to about a 3 I couldn't tolerate the contractions anymore. Then they increased it to 4 and the contractions came strong and hard with no recovery time between them 2 min apart 1 1/2 minutes long. I requested the full strength epidural which seemed to help at first but I noticed I was having severe left hip pain with every contraction. At this point it was Friday morning and I was 4-5 cm 90% effaced. We found out through my severe pain that the epidural was only working on the right. I had to get a new one placed. It worked but I had no idea I would still feel the intense pressure with every contraction. I think I was unable to relax by this point due to three days and nights of no sleep. The nurses kept increasing the pitocin even though contractions were very close and strong, baby had a couple of heart decelerations. They stopped the pitocin, have me the reversal agent and put all sorts of monitors inside me, baby was fine. Restarted pitocin about an hour later. Around 8pm, dr came and checked and I had not progressed from a 5 at all. I was so physically and emotionally drained that I decided on a c-section even though he said I could keep going if I wanted to. C-section at 11pm. While I was numb I was not prepared for the violent tugging and pulling that occurred and found the while experience scary and horrible. After the baby came out they discovered he had a really fast heart rate from supra ventricular tachycardia (svt). He was sent to nicu and I was completely beside myself because I had no bonding time, breast feeding etc. he stayed in nicu for 4 days. My recovery from the c-section is super slow with lots of swelling and discomfort. We're home kow and things are slowly getting better but i wish that my birth experience would have been different. I did everything I could in the early days to help it progress but it just wouldn't (walking, bouncing, positions, acupuncture, tinctures, etc) 

But, in the end baby is here and is healthy. 7 lbs, 14 ounces.