Some of The Story!

So many of you have asked further details of Justus' birth story so I'm going to recount some of the story as I remember it.
We labored all day Saturday with nothing really progressing. We stayed at home for most of the day and then went for Panda Express and walking, walking, walking. Nothing! So we went and retrieved the girls from my nurse friend Kim's house(she's my friend who I work with, carpool with and her family is amazing), and we went to the store and bought deli meat and let the girls pick out special dinner treats. Went home and finally turned in at 11. Mind you, by this time, I had reshowered and shaved and washed my face since I was sure this stinker wasn't coming tonight but might come in the morning.
Then just one short sleepy hour later, I woke up with strong contractions like I had been having all day but they were now just 2 1/2 minutes apart. In between contractions, I reapplied my makeup because I wanted to have perfect pictures for the delivery! HA! What a joke! Then we waited one hour to make sure the contractions were staying consistent and we called our neighbor friends to come over and stay with the girls. They came quickly and we were off after quietly kissing the girls and thinking we'd never again just have two. Our family was about to grow!!!
We arrived at my hospital where I work at 0130 and I had called ahead to reserve the labor nurse I wanted. Thankfully, I got her. More on Julie later!!!!!
She whisked me off to my room, asked if we were planning on an epidural, Jonathan said yes emphatically, I said I'd see how it goes!!!
Labor, meanwhile, was getting stronger and more painful, but I felt like I could manage as long as I was moving and changing positions often. I walked, I sat on the birthing ball and Jonathan and Julie gave me back massages.At 6am, we were 6 cm's dilated and my doc was called. She said she'd be there at 0645 to break my water so I could progress. At 7, I cried for Julie to please call her because if I didn't have someone show me the end of this pain, I absolutely COULD NOT do this any longer. She called and the doctor had hit her alarm and was now running late. I was mad! I love my doctor, but I wanted her there right when she'd said she would be. Meanwhile, I was no longer managing well with the pain so I was given some morphine that didn't do JACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I mean JACK!
However, Julie had delivered her sone naturally and she kept telling me," April, you're doing it, you're doing this" over and over again while she gave me back massages since the baby's head was against my spine. She never stopped encouraging me through each contraction.
At 0715, Doctor Farias came in and said I was still just at 6 cm's. I cried. But she broke my water and then we began to progress some more, reaching 10 cm's at 0855. During this whole time, I begged and begged for the epidural during the contractions but after they were over, I'd say no, I didn't want it. It was all ready on the table but I maintained that I didn't want it between contractions. Julie and Jen, my two nurses, were the ones who kept me on course. They knew I really wanted to try a natural birth and they empowered me to do it. We pushed for 10 minutes and Justus was born at 0908. The pain was immediately over and I felt like Superwoman!!!!
Would I do it again this way? Probably not, but I am glad I experienced something women have done for years. I can relate now!!!! And it proves that one can do ANYTHING for a season! It does finally end!!! And now, we have this handsome baby to prove it!!! It's all worth it, my friends! Love you! And by the way, my makeup was all cried off and my eyes were droopy! So much for the makeup redo!