My waters broke

My waters broke on Thursday 4.30pm I had gone to my midwife appointment and was 39 weeks and 5 days and the midwife said if the baby was not born soon I would have to have an internal examination and then if nothing came of that make a booking to be induced.
So that kind of freaked me a bit. I don't know why, as I am sure it is not that bad.
So i went home and was feeling tired and rested, I was not that hungry and that was a bit strange. I was in bed and at 4.30 my waters broke, I rang Jason and he said he was on his way from work Nth Sydney and then I rang the midwives. They wanted to know if it was a real waters break or leakage urine and suggested I go in to the hospital. I knew with the gush and power of the waters breaking that it was my waters breaking.
We went to the hospital at 6pm and a midwife did a swab to see if it indeed was amniotic fluid and not urine and it was indeed amniotic fluid.
She put a toco meter around my stomach to moniter the contraction and baby's heartbeat and lo and behold i was having miny contractions about 7 min apart. The midwife said to go home and rest and labour would probably begin in the next 24 to 48 hours.
Well on the way home at 7.30 i had a much larger contraction in the car which felt like period pain x 5. Then at home by 8.00 I started feeling contractions they were already 5 min apart and 30 seconds long. This went on for a while and gradually the contractions got closer together and towards the end they were 1 min and a half apart and 40 seconds apart. All this time i was at home with Jason doing everything i remembered from the class, breathing, hot showers, sitting on the toilet resting between contractions drinking a lot of water and having panadine every 4 hours. I made sure Jason massaged my lower back with a tennis ball during every contraction (we only had one as the others were in the bag in the car and I could not fathom the thought of Jason leaving my side to get the bag).
By 3am i told Jason to call the hospital as the pain was much greater and I had the urge to push and he did they said if i wanted to come in i could. By that time Sydney was storming and walking out to the car was quite an adventure. I was having contractions in the car and urges to push in the carpark.
When i got to the hospital I had an internal examination and lo and behold I was 8 cm dialated. I thought I would be 3 cm not 8.
After 2 and half hours of contractions and urges to push I was 10 cm dilated and the midwife said that I would be having the baby soon. These last contractions were not as painful or long as the others and I was just taking each contraction at a time, riding them and the pain.
So then at 6am on friday morning i started to push and this went on for a while but they could not see the baby's head. So after 2 and half hours of pushing the Drs came in and recommended I had an internal examination under an epidural and to see if the baby would come out with a ventose and if that did not work it would have to be a cesarean. I was so disappointed and upset.
So there all my plans went out the window, I endured the labour at home without drugs and right at the end they wanted to give me an epidural. I told them explicitly i wanted to keep pushing and did not want a cesarean.
But in the end i succumbed to the doctors as I was exhausted, I had an epidural and went into the theater and they did an internal examination and were able to locate the head of the baby just near my pelvic bone and told me to push during this and i did without feeling anything. But i pushed as if my life depended on it and after about 3 more contractions with pushing they told me the baby was on its way out. Thankfully, they said they had to use baby forceps to help. The doctors had to give me an episiotomy and unfortunately while they were doing this I tore and had a 4th degree tear.
But at 10.25am the baby was born!!!!!
Stayed in hospital for 4 days and left on Tuesday to go home.
I am home now with Jason and the bub, we still don't have a name. We are breastfeeding and learning every day. The hospital staff were great, the midwives that teach you how to breastfeed at the hospital are wonderful.
I am feeling fine and have no pain, just taking antibiotics and panadol. I can walk around fine and hopefully everything will get better as each day passes.
I am sorry if i bored you with all this detail.
If anyone wants to know anything else I am pleased to help. But the truth is the antenatal course and Sue's teaching helped Jason and I labour at home, and control the pain and know exactly what to expect and that made it all worth while.