I updated throughout my labor, but I had such a positive birth experience that I thought I'd post the full story for anyone who might be scared to give birth.

-Early Labor-
I was scheduled for an induction on tuesday at 39+1 due to possible pre-eclampsia. I went in at 5:00AM and they checked me before anything and I was 2cm and 60% effaced. They put this huge needle in my hand for the IV, and the lady said she was shocked because I didn't flinch at all. In all honesty, I was screaming in my head, just didnt want to look like a wimp.
They started the pitosin around 5:30AM, and I watched tv with FOB and my mum and dad for a while. The contractions weren't TOO bad, but I was highly uncomfortable, so I decided to go ahead and get some IV pain meds (they don't give "pethadine" where I live, it was just an opiate I believe, and I'm almost positive it didn't affect Scarlet at all) because I usually have a very high tolerance for those things. Ten minutes later I've been told that I was babbling about random things like insurance and hair, but I have no memory of that, and ten minutes after that I fell asleep. I ended up sleeping through most of my labor, which I highly recommend. They woke me up once to check me, and then I woke up once it started to wear off.
A while after it wore off I was checked and was only 4cm. It was somewhere around 3PM, and I was progressing very slowly. I decided to go ahead and get the epidural at this point, as I figured I'd be in labor for ages. Getting the epidural was probably the most painful thing, but it really wasn't even that bad. I would definitely get it again. The needle isn't even really what hurt, but once they hit the spot I got a shooting pain in my leg for a second, and then they injected some of the medicine and around my hips I got another shooting pain. It was more unexpected then painful, really. Right after that they went ahead and broke my water, which I didn't feel at all. For just a minute she got a little stressed out from the epidural and the waters breaking, so they put the heartbeat monitor in her scalp, but she quickly stabalized.
-Transition-
A few minutes later my mum walked out to run get something to eat, and me and FOB just talked for a few minutes. I started feeling alot of uncomfortable pressure and I really didn't understand why because the epidural really didn't let me feel anything else. Joe started to worry and asked if he should call my mum back, but I told him not to because I figured I was just being a wimp, and it would soon go away. About two minutes later I was gripping the siderail of the bed and telling Joe to call my mum NOW because I needed to find out what was wrong. My mum and the nurse and my OBGYN came in soon afterwards and checked me. About 15 minutes after they broke my water I had gone from 4cm to 10cm and they told me that I was ready to push!
-Pushing-
It happened so quickly that I was terrified. I had my eyes tightly closed and I didn't even want to push I was just so scared of something going wrong. Next thing I knew, a nurse had one leg and FOB was holding the other, and they were helping me pushing through contractions. It really didn't hurt, just alot of pressure. Every time I pushed she came out a little more. Her heartrate stayed around 140-150 the entire time I pushed, she was very calm. To my surprise, FOB watched the entire thing happening in awe, and everytime I had to take a deep breath and push, he did too. He told me when he saw the top of her head. About 30 minutes after I started pushing, she was out, and she didn't even cry. First thing she did was pee. FOB cut the cord, and after they rubbed her off a bit I had my first hold of her. She looks nothing like FOB, just a cuter me. Then they weighed her, 8 pounds 1 ounce, 19 inches, and FOB had his first hold of her after they washed her up. I saw that he started crying and that made me start crying. I didn't even notice her delivering the placenta, I never even had to push. FOB said he didn't even know about the placenta, and it was big, red and gray, and tons of blood came with it and it was disgusting. But he said that watching her being born so closely was the most amazing experience he's ever had, and everyone was right, because the second he saw her everything changed and he was just completely in love with her. I only had a tiny tear, OBGYN said it was barely even 1st degree, because she had her hand by her face.

Anyways, I would definitely do it again. It was so amazing and empowering, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect birth or a more perfect daughter. I cry just thinking about it, she's such a good baby.

congrats! she's beautiful

Congratulations, she is gorgeous

Aww lovely story hun, congratulations.

Congrats great story

Lovely story congratulations x

Very positive story, everything I dream about having. Congrats! And beautiful baby.

congrats!!! thank you so much for sharing that with us

Congratulations!

She is beautiful! Congratulations and great story x