Labor Story...finally

Alright! I got my labor write-up from my Doula last night, so I can now accurately tell my labor story. It may be a bit of a long post since it seems to last FOREVER and I may get into gross details so you may want to stop here.
It all started on 7/5/09. I woke up at 5:45am having some uncomfortable contractions that were about 5 minutes apart. At my last Dr. appointment she told me to head to the hospital as soon as I knew I was in labor because she thought this baby was pretty much going to slide right out. So I jumped (or rolled, heaved and pushed) out of bed to take a shower and pack up. At about 6:30am I woke Glenn up and told him to get ready. I called my Dad to come watch the kids and my Doula to tell her it was time.
We checked into the hospital at 8:55am. I was at 4-5 cm, 80% effaced. The nurse said my cervix was "soft and stretchy" and she thought I was going to have a very fast labor. We started walking the halls. Contractions were strong, but manageable.
At 12:40pm I got into the shower to help soothe the contractions. I stayed in there for an hour. It felt SO good.
2:55pm Nurse checked me. I was ONLY at 5-6 cm, 100% effaced and the baby was at -2 station. Ugh! I was bummed that was all I had progressed. Nurse got the delivery stuff ready. She thought it was going to go really fast. I knelt over a birthing ball for a while and laid on my side so they could monitor me for a little while.
4:20pm I got back into the shower. Felt really good!
5:00pm Got out of shower because labor was getting pretty intense. Nurse checked me. 8cm and head was at -1 station. Woohoo! Now it should go really fast! Right? No?
6:06pm Dr. arrived. checked me..... STILL at an 8. We decided to break my water thinking that the baby would pretty much come out with the water. Little did I know...
6:45pm STILL at 8cm babies head at -1 station. What the heck? Everyone was telling me this was going to be a fast labor! Contractions were insanely intense! No break in between contractions. Wanted someone to shoot me!
7:50pm Decided to get an epidural to have a break from the insanely intense contractions. Dr. Woo came in to give epidural. He gave me a "low dose" because I would be pushing soon. I begged to be completely numb. Didn't happen. My Dr. decided to put me on a little pitocin to speed things up.
8:55pm 10cm!!!!! Woohoo! Finally! Baby's head was cocked a little to the side, and baby was still a little high so Dr. wanted me to labor down for a little while.
9:45pm pushed a little. I was feeling pressure like you wouldn't believe! It felt like my pelvis was being ripped apart. Oh wait, it was! After a few pushes, Dr. wanted me to labor down a bit more.
10:10pm I started pushing because the pressure hurt so bad. I thought with an epidural you were supposed to be pain free and happy. I could feel almost everything. It did take the edge off the contractions though.
10:51pm BABY FINALLY BORN!!!!!!! He came out waving apparently. Ahhhhhhh! Relief!!!!! Wow, he's big! And angry!
It was such an intense 17 hours and 6 minutes of labor. I have to say that this birth was more painful than my last where I used NO medication. How does that happen? Oh, right he was 9lbs. 11oz. Let me just point out also that the average head circ. for a baby is 31-33cm. This little guys head circ. was 36.5cm.
With as hideous of a labor as it was, I have had a great recovery. I had less than a 1st degree tear with maybe 2 stitches. And I have my beautiful baby. After the delivery I felt really bad for Liam. He was swollen and his nose and part of his head were bruised. He was screaming like he was in pain. So sad! He went through just as much, if not more than I did. But he is super healthy. His APGAR scores were 9 & 9 and he nursed right away. Also, my Dr. showed us this huge knot in the umbilical cord. Liam must have been doing flips to get that tied in there. So they waited a little while before cutting the cord. I was able to get up shortly after the birth since I wasn't totally numb, which was really nice. I got cleaned up and we headed to our recovery room to get a good 4 hours of sleep that night. I thoroughly enjoyed the hospital stay in the new suites, and wish I could have stayed longer. The nurses and Dr.'s were amazing and of course my husband and Hillary were incredible! Thanks guys!