so i am a ftm and my son is 3 weeks old now. i finally have a minute to write my birth story. on my due date i had a membrane sweep. i was only a centimeter dilated and yes.... it was painful. two days later i thought my water was leaking & i started feeling uncomfortable BH, i went to the hospital to check & they said i was probably in early labor , and sent me home. over the course of the next TWO days i had contractions every 10 minutes. they didn't stop, they didn't give me a break, and they were getting worse. on Oct 29 around 4 pm i called my husband crying that i literally couldn't take it anymore. i was GOING to wait until the 31st for my scheduled induction but the pain of those contractions sent me packing my bags.... We got to the hospital and thankfully i was 5 cm dilated and it was GO TIME. at that point the feeling of relief overtook the pain but i got an epidural anyway (cus i was petrified of pushing w/o one) & the epidural was AMAZING! i felt no pain! just pressure of the contractions. i was able to sleep , use my phone, and relax. bliss. i labored there for 25 hours and when it was time to push, my mom was down below with the doctor and my husband was by my side being the most amazing support system . he was motivating me to push , and i was pushing SO HARD. it took about an hour and he was born at 1:40 pm at 8 lbs 4 oz on Oct 30 and he was perfect. the feeling that overcomes you when your baby is pulled out of you is indescribable. we all cried but my husband and i bawled. we were so happy and it was so beautiful! immediate skin to skin, however it was interrupted to clean him up. now one thing these birth stories never talk about is the recovery process, which i completely underestimated. 2nd degree tears made LIFE itself just so uncomfortable. but 3 weeks later and i would do it all again .