I wanted to share my story because it was honestly the best birth I could ask for even though I literally was not prepared for it since I was still 37 weeks and 4 days! My original due date was June 11th and my little man came on May 25th! So on Wednesday may 25 at around 3 am I was getting contractions this was the first time I got contractions I would get the Braxton hick contractions but they felt so different than the real contractions, these contractions felt like period cramps and they were about 5-6 mins apart and lasting like a minute and 25 seconds they were like this for 2 hours I kept timing them, I woke my husband up and he had to leave for work but he saw I was in pain and told me to call the hospital so I did and they told me I could come in because I still hadn't got my cervix checked so they wanted to make sure everything was ok. So I took a hot shower and we left to the hospital around 6:30 am got into a triage room and they were monitoring my baby's heartbeat and my contractions for about an hour at this point my contractions were like 9-10 mins apart so they didn't think I was in active labor but finally they checked my cervix and let me tell you guys this HURT!!!! My nurse had a hard time looking for my cervix so it felt like her whole hand was in my insides 😣😣😣😣she called another nurse and it took her a while too but finally she said I was 4 cm and 80% effaced we were all in shock! The nurses said they were going to call my doctor and let her know what she wanted to do, they came back in the room and told me that my doctor didn't want to admit me just yet because my contractions weren't really close together and I guess people can be at 4cm for a couple days/weeks and aren't in active labor I was a bit confused because I had thought once your 4 cm you can be admitted but anyway I had a feeling I was in active labor the contractions were hurting and i just had a feeling!! But it's like they didn't think it was a big deal maybe bc I'm a first time mom. The nurses also said they were going to keep me for 24hours regardless if I was in active labor or not bc I had signs of preeclampsia I had protein in my urine and high blood pressure which is weird because my blood pressure was never high before!! After they told me this they said they wanted me to walk around the hospital for an hour to see if I progress or open up more just to see if I was in labor, after that they checked me again and I was 4 1/2 they then took me to another room to monitor my preeclampsia and btw I still wasn't admitted I didn't even have an IV or anything. When I was in this room my contractions were hurting pretty bad they were tolerable but they still hurt. I was just trying to tough it out! My husband had left to go talk to his boss really fast so I was in the room with his mom and my mom and at this point I was in pain this was around 11 am I wanna say and they still hadn't admitted me or anything. We were on the phone with my husband and all of a sudden I feel a gush of water on the bed and all over me my water had broken!! And when we told my husband he was like OH SHIT!!! And zoomed on over to the hospital lol finally my nurse said I'm officially in active labor and were waiting for my doctor so she could check me (she was in a surgery). She came to my room and checked me and I was 6cm open and I told her I wanted an epidural so she said that was fine that the anesthesiologist would be in my room soon well this lady  took FOREVER it seemed like!!! I remember I couldn't even breathe I would just hold my breath when I would get a contraction because it was the worse pain I have ever been in, my husband was trying to calm me down and I would just tell him DONT TALK TO ME in Spanish lol and I would always yell I'm gunna shit myself!!!! Because that's literally how it feels no joke!! Finally the anesthesiologist came to the room and was talking to me about the epidural the side effects blah blah and had me sign a paper I was seriously so mad like why are you talking to me when I'm in this much pain??!! Bt I understand its her job. I was so scared when she was putting the needle in my back because I felt like I was gunna move if I got a contraction but luckily I didn't, after getting the epidural I still felt contractions but my legs were numb it was a weird feeling. Right after the epidural my nurse and Doctor were putting a catheter in and as soon as I opened my legs my doctor was like OMG ITS TIME TO PUSH!!! His head was right there! I was freaking out because the epidural was still not fully kicked in, I couldn't believe it like I had just got the epidural 😭 all these nurses started coming in and my doctor was telling me how to push and my husband was holding my leg he was the best support ever btw and after about 5 pushes my little man was out! Fastest delivery ever!!!! It took like 10-15 mins if that. All of the nurses and my doctor were super surprised of how fast it was! May 25 at 1:51 pm my little angel was born weighing 6 lbs 14 oz!!! 💙🙏🏻