Birth story

This was my second pregnancy and was much harder on my body than we had anticipated.  I had been having Braxton's and lots of pain since 28weeks.  I took baths and wore my maternity belt to help.  My first daughter was forced out at 41 weeks 2 days so at our 37 week check up my dr wanted to try stripping my membranes.  That didn't happen since I was dilated or effaced at all.  At 39 week check up I had finally dilated to... 1/2cm....  I had been taking primrose oil for three weeks orally and one week vaginally and it seemed to really help soften my cervix but wasn't dilating.  On Thursday (6/15) morning at 2:30 I woke up having early labor pains.  At 5:15am I had my bloody show and contractions were getting more consistent and stronger. We went to the hospital at 8am and we were discharged around 9:30.  I hadn't progressed at all.  We went and got our first daughter, picked up food, and went home to rest.  I went to the bathroom after napping and as I was washing my hands my water broke.  It was a small pop and a flood of fluid came out.  Mind you, all contractions had stopped shortly after getting home so this was a big surprise.  We went to the hospital after dropping our daughter off at grandparents.  We were admitted after testing positive for a rupture and by that time my doula was there and contractions were coming on strong.  I got into my room and started the waiting game.  The contractions were very painful and with my doula's help I was able to relax into them but as they got stronger I started to have heart palpitations that really worried me so I opted for the epidural.  They got fluids going and was they were done the anesthesiologist came and did the epidural.  He was super nice and fast.  Much better than my first experience.  After that I ended up taking a nap and woke up to pressure in my abdomen.  We thought I needed some more epidural so we pushed the button but it didn't seem to change anything.  It was then shift change so a new nurse came and finally checked me as I hadn't been checked since being admitted at 3cm.  She immediately said "don't cough, don't sneeze, and don't push!"  She calls the dr in and the baby's head was right there so they got my legs up and waited for the next contraction.  When he said to I pushed and after some maneuvering on his end the baby came out at 7:42pm.  The cord was wrapped around her legs and arms and she was breathing well so they took her to the incubator.  They warmed her up and got her lungs clear and then she was perfectly healthy after that.  My hubby cut the cord and we breastfed great while waiting to move to post partum.  We are now home and we are keeping an eye on her jaundice but we are doing great! She is breastfeeding really well and is such a good baby.  Older sister is still adjusting.