Hi all. Our little girl came to us on Sunday at 2am, after 40weeks and two days of waiting and many days of early labor. Thursday I had a check up and was 1cm and 70%, having regular, semi painless contractions, about 15-30 apart. Thus went on until Saturday morning when I woke up and was having painful contractions 5 min apart. I told my husband who tried (too hard) to not get excited (like I said...lots of early labor the days before lead him to believe she was never coming.) so I took a bath and they seemed to be increasing in intensity. I timed then and they were about 4 min apart. We got checked at the hospital where I was only 1 but 80%. Waited an hour and got to 2 and  100% so they sent me home. By the time we made the 20 minute drive everything was more intense. I couldn't focus, was so confused by the Drs telling this wasn't it yet and that it was still to early, but it just kept getting worse. We decided to make some eggs and try to eat, which my husband ended up feeding me as I stuck my head out of the shower haha until I couldn't take it anymore. The contractions were coming too close and too hard for me to concentrate at all. I was howling with each one--and I swore I wouldn't yell!! We got back to the hospital and my husband practically carried me in. This was about two hours after we left --the nurse said why did you wait this long I have no where to put her. I don't remember at all but I guess I yelled at her. They got me into triage and checked me. I remember pulling my pants off as soon as we got in the room. I was 5cm and went right up to l and d. Contractions were in fact on top of one another so despite really wanting a natural birth I decided to get the epidural. I was so happy I did at that point because they kept getting closer and more intense. The nurses all said it looked like a really really hard intense labor. Once they got the foley in, my water broke within 10 minutes. There was a lot of meconium but the baby was ok. At about 11p I was fully dilated and tried pushing for a while but she was still high up. They let me rest an hour and came back in because I had spiked a high fever (103) and the baby was starting to have a hard time. They called the dr on call to work with my midwife to help us get her out quickly. I pushed and pushed for almost two hours. I remember getting so frustrated and out of control at the end because I knew she needed to come out but I couldn't tell when I was having a contraction. When she finally came out and they didn't let my husband cut the cord I looked up at her and she was gray and looked like she wasn't moving (my husband kept telling me she was blinking and moved he feet but I didn't see it) she didn't cry and they took her to a little room where the nicu team was to suction her out and get her breathing well. She was sent to the nicu for monitoring and was admired there because she had some off levels Due to her delay in breathing. I cried and cried for hours!! I know she was ok and at the best place in New England she could be, and her dad was with her but I was so scared and worried for her. I finally got to see my little girl at about seven am, she was on cpap, Iv and a warmer. I couldn't hold her or even rub her little foot because it as too taxing on her body. She recovered quickly though, and by the end of the day we were able to hold her and do skin to skin. She was so cute. It was so scary to see her hooked up to everything but it was helping her get better. She quickly learned that she wanted to eat and started sucking on her hands and rooting a little. We were encouraged to expose her to the breast Monday morning and she went ahead and latched on!! Her pedi walked in and was so happy and thrilled that she was doing so well. From there she went from oxygen to y alroom air by the end of the day. She nursed from then on and is a Nursing champ!! We got to come home yesterday. Just in time for Christmas. We are so lucky to have had the support of our wonderful birth team and nicu staff. As hard as it was they all tried their best to be loving and supportive and it made all the difference!! The top is the first time I saw her, bottom is yesterday evening at home.