Labor started Sunday night at 4:45 p.m., four days after my due date. The contractions were very manageable, consistently 20 minutes apart. By that evening, 8:45 p.m., when I went to bed, the contractions were sporadic but near 10 minutes apart each. Rushing to get all the bags ready, panic and stress started to set in. All night long the consistent contractions varied from 6 to 12 minutes apart. It was not a good night for resting.

Monday morning the contractions became closer together, all under 10 minutes apart, so by noon I wanted to go to the hospital, but the hospital staff said to wait and come when the contractions were consistently 3 minutes apart. However by 7:30 p.m. on Monday evening, literally 27 hours of consistent labor pains, I was exhausted and couldn't go through another night of restlessness. So thankfully the hospital admitted me even though my contractions weren't consistently 3 minutes apart; they were still sporadic varying from 3 to 10 minutes apart.

After getting into the bed, I was check to find out I was only 2 centimeters! Ugh! After that many hours of labor, I expected to be further along. However by 10:30 p.m., even though still at 2 centimeters, I received my wonderful epidural and rested well that night. Thankfully while resting the contractions did their proper work on my cervix and I had my baby girl at 8:45 a.m. on Tuesday morning (six days after my due date). I only had to push for about 30 minutes, but I did tear a little in three places when her shoulders passed through. The epidural was pretty worn off by the time the doctor stitches those tears, so they were painful. Ouch! But overall after 40 hours of straight contractions varying from 20 minutes to full-blow hard-core labor, I was very ready for my 9-pounds, 9-ounce baby girl to be loved and held! It was all worth it!