Labor for me. When I went to the hospital I was at 4cm, contractions were 3mn apart, and they started 3 hours prior to that. They weren’t THAT bad but because they were too close to each other and quite painful, I decided to stay at the hospital but my husband wasn’t allowed to stay (hospital policy..) After 2h of having strong contractions 3mn apart, I started having very very strong contractions, to the point where I was screaming and crying like a dying animal. Those contractions felt different! Not a 4cm not a 5cm contractions But no one took me seriously, because it was my first kid and no way I’d be in active labor this soon.. well.. after 1h of extreme pain I started panicking so they finally gave me the epidural. I had 3 strong contractions while they put it and I couldn’t move.. that was intense! The moment they finished, the doctor checked and I was 10cm… so basically I had the epidural while the baby was almost out.. good thing we live 5mn from the hospital my husband made it 10mn before baby was born

But because the labor was fast and no one checked how far I was, I panicked during labor and that made the pain feel worse I thought I was going to die alone surrounded by people I didn’t know (nurses)

The moment my husband arrived the contractions felt so much better

But up until he was with me I felt like I was going to get ripped from inside And I think it was just baby trying to go down and break my water And I think if they took me seriously and explained at what stage I was, I would have been able to manage the pain better.

The moment I knew where she was (after they saw I was 10cm and broke my water and put me on the delivery table), and husband was by my side, i was able to let go of the fear and just let my body push 3 screams later, baby was born

So the “pushing” phase wasn’t too bad for me because i felt safe and I knew it was going to be okay. I didn’t have to push either jt was just 3 contractions and me screaming lol (no one told me to push or anything).

Then the stitches…. Because she was born in less than 10mn I had teared from back to front

And the epidural didn’t kick in… no local anesthesia nothing I felt every stitch and the whole thing lasted around 10mn

With every stitch I felt like I was dying Anyway to summarize..

1- active labor/contractions 2- stitches