A little late-my precipitous birth of Jackson

Jackson Everett was born December 16th at 5:20pm weighing 8lbs 12oz and 21.5in long. I was 38wks 6days pregnant and facing induction before the 21st due to my doctor going out of town and I wanted him to deliver me. At my doctor appt on the 14th I was 3-4cm and 50% effaced. I asked him to strip my membranes and he stretched me to 4-5cm. He said that I could go to L&D that day and they would keep me and give me Pitocin to deliver me. I, however, wanted to experience going into labor on my own and wanted to avoid Pitocin. I made an appt for Friday the 16th to have him strip my membranes again. When I showed up he was surprised to see me. I told him that my supervisor at work was requesting a doctor's note saying it was okay to work that weekend after having my membranes stripped. I was 5cm and 70% effaced. Doctor said no, so I said let's have a baby. I could not sit at home and go stir crazy waiting for baby to come. I went to the hospital around 12:30pm and got checked in. The unit was full and we took a room that had just been cleaned but not stocked. The house doctor broke my water at 2:20pm and I was still 5cm, 70% effaced, and baby was at a 0 station. I wanted to "labor" for a bit so I said no to getting an epidural at that point. Contractions got stronger at 3pm. I turned onto my left side and was going to try to nap a bit. I heard another patient moaning in labor and actually thought to myself "don't scare everyone!" haha The contractions got strong pretty quick and soon I found myself gripping the side rail of the bed with every contraction. I could not speak through the contractions so I managed to text my husband, yes he was in the same room, and text my sister to keep her updated. My last text to her said "I'm gonna die" and that was around 3:45pm. At that point I think I rated my pain 7/10. I didn't want to look like I could only handle a little bit of labor, so I waited until 4:15pm to ask for the epidural, knowing it would take a little time to actually get it. My pain was definately a 10/10 and I thought it couldn't get any worse. Well, I did not know that I had to get a 1L IV fluid bolus prior to getting the epidural because it drops your BP so much. That bolus took at least 35mins and by then I was beyond miserable and the pain was almost a 12/10. I didn't think the contractions could get worse, but they sure did. They radiated into my back and made me want to jump out of bed. They were coming every 2mins and lasting 70-100sec. I had only 20-50sec in between to catch my breath and mutter a word or two to my husband. I asked for pain medicine but the nurse said I couldn't have any because I can't be groggy when I sign the consent for the epidural. (Why can't my husband sign it for me? And isn't it obvious that I want an epidural!) At 4:40pm I was 7cm. I was so relieved when I saw the anesthesiologist at 5pm. The hardest thing to do was to turn over onto my back and roll onto my right side to sit up on the bed. Then I had to scoot back very far and that was so hard because I had so much pressure in my bottom. The epidural hurt and I yelled twice when he hit a nerve that sent shooting pain down the right side of my spine. Surprisingly, I actually found some relief from my contractions sitting up. But had so much pressure in my bottom that I found myself pushing on the bed with my hands to help raise my bottom up- that helped ease the pressure. Finally, the epidural was in! I was moments away from relief, I told myself. I laid back down and instantly felt a TON of pressure. I knew that with an epidural you could still feel pressure, but I knew it shouldn't be that much and the epidural had not kicked in yet. I found myself screaming "I don't want to feel this pressure!". I believed that if I simply told the nurse I was feeling pressure that she wouldn't understand just how much I was feeling-thus the screaming. I saw the anesthesiologist start to push the medicine into the catheter. I then felt another bout of intense pressure and felt him coming. "I have to push and can't help it". "Don't push!" said the nurse. She quickly checked me: "You're complete and there's the head!" I was in shock. I was going to deliver this baby without pain medicine and he was coming right now with or without my help! There was no doctor, no other nurses, no baby exam table setup, and my husband didn't have the camcorder ready. I took a quick glimpse at my husband across the room. He was staring at me in awe and shock. Another nurse quickly came in, she must have heard me screaming about the pressure and I know I said "I don't want to feel this!". My nurse ran to the door and said "Someone get the house doc!" I did not want a different doctor to deliver me. My mind raced, it was after 5pm so my doctor should be here from the office by now. I screamed "I want Puckett!" I then felt the intense pressure again and this time I felt him crowning with a moment of burning. I wasn't even pushing and this baby was coming out! I started to push to help things along, knowing that my only relief would be when he was out. The pressure was so intense that I wanted to climb up and out of the bed to get away from it. Another quick push and the head was out. "Puckett's here" someone said. My doctor came in as my baby's head was coming out. The doctor didn't even have time to put gloves on. He jumped right in and rotated the babys head a bit. "Get her legs up" someone said. My husband was on my left and my nurse on my right. One more push and I felt my son come out. I don't know who or how many people were in the room. I couldn't open my eyes. I was in shock of what just happened and started to sob uncontrollably. I finally heard my son cry. The staff assumed I was in pain and gave me some Morphine. I was not in any pain though but couldn't find the words to speak. I finally managed to look at my husband and tell him to go take some pictures. I knew he was going to be a big boy and I had a fear of tearing so I asked if I had. I had a second degree laceration. I felt the doctor stitch me up but it did not hurt. The doctor massaged my abdomen and I felt the placenta being delivered. The nurse went to get a scale to weigh the baby. I heard comments of how he was a big baby and my doctor and a nurse took guesses at his weight. My doctor said to me "Remember what I said about you going so fast?" I smirked thinking yes I remember but I didn't think it would actually happen. Jackson was born at 5:20pm. 8lbs 12oz. 21.5in long. I was in labor for 3 hours total, half the time of labor I had with my daughter. I went from 7cm to delivery in 40mins. My nurse was literally moments away from delivering my baby on her own, and she still managed to keep her cool. I have learned my lesson: ask for the epidural right away, especially if I'm already 5cm! Also, do some researching on natural childbirth, in case it happens that way again. I'm somewhat glad I got to experience it that way, because I know I would never attempt that on my own. But that will hopefully be the last and only time I do that without pain medicine.