Alright here goes nothing...I had an induction date set for Monday the 28th which was my due date but our little man decided to come 3 days early on Friday the 25th. Friday morning I woke up having contractions around 2:30 a.m. and let my husband know and we began to time them. I honestly thought that it would be another false alarm so I tried to just go back to sleep but that didn't work. They were roughly 5-7 minutes apart and lasting around 45seconds-1 minute. I stayed in bed for about an hour making sure it was the real deal before calling my doctor or waking my MIL to watch our toddler. The hospital was an hour away so at 3:45a.m. we left our house and headed to the hospital. Got there in less than an hour, they checked me and I was still at 3cm as I was at the doctors office earlier that week as well. They saw my contractions though and checked me again an hour later and I was at 5cm so they admitted me and let me walk as much as I wanted, hooking me up to the monitor every 20 minutes to check on baby. I wanted to do all natural and labor in a birthing pool and the shower, but I knew an epidural was still in the back of my mind just because I got one with my first and it was a life saver and also I don't deal with pain too well. Anyways up to that point I was handling everything fine, I got to 6-7cm and they broke my water and that's when things started to heat up. My contractions started to come a lot closer and a heck of a lot stronger so I asked to get in the shower. They got to be so bad in the shower I finally cried out that I wanted the epidural. So I got out of the shower and they call in the anesthesiologist and she attempts to give me the epi but the first time she hit a vein and there was blood that came back so she tried again and it didn't work so they called in another anesthesiologist and he was able to get it in. It took them about an hour to finally get it right , but I believe with the way I was sitting on the edge of the bed It helped get my little man down into position. My contractions at this point were absolutely awful. I was wanting it all to be over, I was super exhausted and just wanted to rest. With my first baby I got the epidural and then I was able to sleep for 2 hours and I woke up and started pushing and she was out within 15 minutes. So that's what I expected with this one too but they finished my epi and I laid down and instantly felt the need to push, it totally took over my body and I couldn't help it. So I pushed, and pushed and pushed for what felt like at least an hour but I was told I pushed for 20-30 minutes tops. My midwife ended up having to cut me where I tore with my first which was all scar tissue anyways. My little man kept crowning but was getting stuck, so she cut me and my nurse literally jumped up in the bed and pounced on my stomach to help get him out and unstuck. It felt awful but I knew it was needed and I'm thankful for their help with getting him out because my body was so tired and hurting. I felt everything. I don't think the epidural had time to work before I needed to push. Anyways they did all that because he had what they called shoulder dislocatia and they were worried about his collar bone getting fractured or broken, but he ended up being fine. I hadn't had an ultrasound since I was 24 weeks so I had no idea how big my little guy was, my guess was a solid 8 pounder. His older sister who is 19 months now was 7.12lbs and born at 40+3, but our little man didn't come out so little. He was 10lbs 2.6oz!!! No wonder I was so ready to have him and he was such a monster to push out!! But he is doing amazing, he came out ready to nurse and we got skin to skin, they waited about 7 hours to give him a bath and he has breastfed on demand and now we are home resting. I actually got spinal headaches and had to have a blood patch before I left the hospital so my recovery is slow and I'm still in a good deal of pain but my little man is here and healthy and every bit worth it. I am so thankful that he is finally here! Cooper Rex 10lbs 2.6oz & 21in. long born at 12:52p.m. on 11/25/16. 💙❤️