Birth Story

I think it's about time for this one :)
Friday, September 30 I felt like I wouldn't make it through the weekend.  That night I couldn't sleep (was actually one Facebook at 3:00am).  Contradictory to my previous worries, I had no doubt this was real.  My contractions started around 5:46am...but they were sporadic, some 30 minutes apart, some 10.  Around 10am I thought they were getting close enough to go to the hospital, so we did.  I wasn't in much pain, but didn't want to be an hour away when she decided to come.
When we got to the hospital I was admitted and sent to the pre-labor room.  Before getting hooked up to the contraction monitor I went to the bathroom - on the way out I'm 100% my water broke.  They hooked me up to the contraction reader, took a swab to see if my water had actually broke and left us alone for a while.
When the nurse came back she told me the fluid was negative for amniotic fluid, and my contractions weren't close enough to admit me, so they sent me home.
I knew better, so we stayed in Sierra Vista at my friend Emily's house and waited it out.  Thomas left around 4pm to go home and get our stuff.  I ended up taking a bath at Emily's to relax and that's when the fun started.
We'd been keeping track of the contractions and they hadn't seemed very consistent (hence why Thomas left). 
But in the bathtub that changed.  I started getting really hard, painful contractions closer together.  Around 5:00pm I had a contraction that lasted for 20 minutes.  I called my doctor and he told me to head to the hospital.  So I called Thomas and told him to bust his butt and get up to Sierra Vista (he'd just gotten home).
(5:45) Leaving Emily's house I ended up loosing my lunch, which told me this was really the real deal.
(5:55) When we got to the hospital, they admitted my right away (I was in a lot of pain this time around).  They took me to the pre-labor room, where I was measured at 3 cm...at that point the nurse calmed down and left to see to another patient (which kinda pissed me off).  She told me the baby was probably paying on her back and if I wanted things to go quicker to get on my hands and knees to see if she would flip...lol...so I did.
(6:20) That's when the fun really started.  IMMEDIATELY, my pain intensified so much I felt like I needed to push right then. I told Em to call Thomas to let him know she was coming NOW.  Then screamed for the nurse.
(6:30ish) The nurse came in and measured me at 10cm...she told me to hold on, that it was too late for the epidural and we were going into the labor room.  To my "vengeance" she seemed more concerned about me then.  At this point, Thomas was still about 20 minutes out.
(6:45ish) The original nurse and 2 more, carted me from the pre-labor room to the labor room.  Thomas arrived during this process.
(6:45) The doctor followed them in and got me set up for delivery.  I don't even think he introduced himself. (I don't remember much at this point except the pain).
(6:50) I was instructed to start pushing.
(7:03pm) After an intense 13 minutes of pushing and the WORSE pain I have ever felt in my life, our daughter, Meredith Raine was born.  She was perfect!  8lbs 3 oz, 20 inches long!

I lost almost 500ml of blood and received more stitches than they would let me know (seriously, I asked how many and the doctor told me "enough").  I was in "active" labor (over 5cm dilated) for a mere 45 minutes, but those 45 minutes were the most painful of my entire life.  Most people tell me I'm lucky it went so quick, instead of being in labor for hours, but I don't know.  Ripping sucked and not having an epidural was not something I want to do again.  Which, according to my doctors is possible.  Because the labor was so quick, chances are my next pregnancy (in 20 years or so) will be a scheduled birth to prevent the same thing from happening again.