I will say this about natural labor compared to induced - your body does allow you to rest - albeit far too brief. Had I not had those three minutes in between I would have lost my mind, they seemed an eternity a very fast, but delightful eternity.

We pulled around to the emergency drop off and by luck a gentleman was waiting inside the door to take Labor and Delivery patients up to the ward. He told Eric not to worry, go park the car and he would get me there without delay. He had been recently discharged from the service and tried talking to me as a wait to abate his nervousness and to comfort me. He assured me he understood, as he had a 15 month old at home. He was very sweet and firmly told people to get the hell out of our way. I thanked him profusely between spine gripping contractions.

The staff seemed only mildly concerned when we arrived. They were used to women writhing in pain and felt confident that I had plenty of time. WHY WAS EVERYONE SO SURE? As she asked me questions I tried hard to focus. What's my name, when's my due date, when did I start having contractions, what number baby is this, did I want drugs? HELL YES AND NOW!!! She examined me and said I was about 4 centimeters dilated. HOW COULD THAT BE? I felt so much pressure and pain.

Finally Eric arrived and I remember him sitting down next to me as they were trying to put an IV in my arm, I looked up at him as I felt a wave come crashing down over me and suddenly I felt this urge to push like I have never felt before. I thought (not to be gross) that I was going to crap myself. I was suddenly self-conscious, but removed from my body. I had to push and push I did, as hard as I could.

They heard a tell-tale grunt and suddenly everyone sprang to action. There was a flurry of activity going on around me and I felt WET. I wondered if I had peed or pooped myself. The things that go through the mind of a modest and easily embarrassed person.

The nurse said, "Oh my, you are fully dilated and I can feel the head in the canal. Your waters are broken." This was only about 30 seconds since she last checked me. That's what I call transition. (I also was relieved to know what the pressure and wetness were.)

At this point I blanked out and focused on the voices and the feelings inside my body. I literally left my body and was floating above in a dark haze. People were telling me I had to push and to do it NOW! So I did, then suddenly the pushing stopped itself and hit a wall. The pressure turned into a burning and stretching sensation and I let out a scream as they yelled "push DAWN, PUSH". I pushed as hard as I could and I literally felt the baby's head, shoulders and body slide out.