Labor

   Ashley will probably give you a more detailed account but for the quick recap; Ashley started feeling contractions around 6:30 AM.  They were far apart and a little irregular, so we were not sure if they were real.  Later that morning, Ashley called the midwife, who stopped by, checked Ashley out and said that she had just begun to dilate, and probably can expect Brandon in the next 24-48 hours. 
      1 hour later, I get a call at work from Ashley asking me to come home because the contractions were too close together and getting stronger. The contractions were about 5 minutes apart when I got home, so we went to the Birthing Center.  There the midwife checked her again and she was 3 cm dilated (and she expected about 1 cm/hr, up until 10 cm, then Brandon could be delivered).  By this time Ashley was in pain and kept asking for an epidural.  The delivery rooms were all being used, so Ashley had to wait an hour for a room and thus an epidural.  The Midwife had the smart idea of letting Ashley sit in a warm bath, which made her feel better (though you couldn't tell at the time).  She was checked again before we left for the delivery room and after an hour she was at 4 cm.  Right on schedule. 
        On to the delivery room.  Ashley was in lots of pain and kept asking for an epidural, which everyone was taking their time setting up because they had to wait for the anesthesiologist (plus Ashley had hours before delivery).  I didn't understand the nurses because they felt the need to ask Ashley medical history questions or explain what they were doing in the middle of her contractions.  If Ashley could reach their necks, I am pretty sure she would have snapped a few.  They checked her dilation again and in 45 minutes she went from 4 cm to 8 cm (explains the pain) but still no epidural.  The midwives tried to get Ashley to finish off without an epidural but that wasn't going to happen.  Once Ashley got the epidural, the entire process screeched to a crawl, probably because they gave her too much.  Thus it took another 4 hours for Ashley to go from 8 cm to 10 cm and be ready to deliver.  This was then labor hour 15 or 16.  Plus the epidural screws with how you push so Brandon was not low enough, so it took a lot of effort to get him down and then they needed to help him out by pulling on his head while Ashley pushed.  Fortunately, everyone made it, everyone was okay but Brandon has a wicked headache and sore bruise on his head.