exit strategy

Caitlin's grand entrance went a little something like this:
-Since (of course) I had not gone into labor, I was scheduled to be induced. The hospital called me at about 6:30 AM on Friday morning and told me I could come in.
-We got to the hospital and checked in by 7:15 AM. I came in already dilated to a 3.5 and about 90% effaced. They monitored me for a little bit and then around 9:00 they started the pitocin to get things going.
-By 10:00 I had dilated to a 4 but then nothing happened for awhile. I was having a lot of contractions due to the pitocin but I couldn't feel them and they were happening too regularly so they messed around with the pitocin doses and eventually found that it was better when my body did most of it on its own. By 1:00 I was still at a 4 so they wanted to try to speed things up.
-The doctor wanted me to get my epidural before she broke my water, in case something happened with my high fluid and they had to go into an emergency C-section. So by 1:15 I had my epidural. I had wanted to feel what some of the stronger contractions felt like, but with the epidural so early, I was virtually pain-free for the rest of my delivery. Which, I guess I won't complain about. The Dr. who did the epidural was awesome, it didn't hurt one bit and was over before I knew it.
-Then my Dr. came in to break my water. It took just the smallest touch to break since it was so full! And then started the waterfall. We all knew breaking my water would be quite the event since i had SO much fluid in there and let's just say: it didn't disappoint. the nurse said it's the mot fluid she's ever seen and Paul was making jokes about having to sandbag the doors in the room. It was pretty comical, and afterward my stomach was so much softer and squishy!
-At one point I had to wear an oxygen mask to boost the baby's heart rate, then at 2:35 they stopped giving me pitocin altogether.
-From 3:00-3:50 i worked myself to dilating to a solid 5 then I took a nap until about 4:45. When I woke up i was at an 8!
-Some other things happening meanwhile were: I had 4 different nurses throughout the day! It was funny to have so many coming in and out but they were all excellent. One of my nurses was Emily, who we knew so that was really fun to have her help us and my last nurse was Danette and she was so helpful during the actual delivery. We also had tons of visitors throughout the day which was really fun and definitely helped the day go by faster so thanks to everyone who came!
-So by 6:20 I was almost dilated to a 10 and by 7:15 I was completely dilated. Then I waited an hour to "rest and descend". This allowed her to come down as far as possible to make pushing easier and faster.
-At 8:30 I started pushing and Caitlin was born at 10:36! I had great support from Paul, my mom and Lorraine (Paul's mom) as well as my nurse and my Dr. for the pushing part. It definitely wasn't easy or quick but I had so much adrenaline and when I finally saw her I just started crying and smiling. It was such an amazing moment. Paul got to cut the umbilical cord.
-They put her right on my when she was born and I finally got to see this littler person who had been inside of me. I thought she was so beautiful and amazing. I got to hold her for quite a while with Paul and then they took her to weigh her and do their tests.
-It was a LONG day! About 15.5 hours total from start to birth. I was EXHAUSTED by the end of it, and very hungry and thirsty. BUT alas, it was all completely worth it.