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Sam was born last Thursday - Aug 3. I was induced with cervidil, to soften the cervix, for the first 12 hours. That basically didn't do much but get me from 50% effaced to about 80%. I was still 2 cm dilated. They then started the pitocin. That only got me to 3 cm. The contractions were every 2 minutes but so bearable. After about 8 hours of the pitocin, the Dr ruptured my water sack and things got really painful, fast!! I went to empty my bladder and next thing I know, I am in the worst pain w/ lots of pressure. The anaestesiologist (sp) came in about 15 minutes later to administer the epidural. It freaked me out because my contractions were so intense and only about 40 seconds apart. I tried my hardest to hold still. The bottom pressure was just so unbelievably painful and my bed wasn't lowered enough - so my feet were not completely on the floor. This made the pain so bad but I couldn't speak! Anyway, the epidural was administered and then my nurse checked me and I was 9 cm. I went from 3 cm to 9 cm in about 45 minutes! The epidural was wonderful and they gave me a lot of pain relief when they realized I was already 9cm. I basically got to 10 cm in a few more hours but my nurse and Dr wanted the baby to drop as far as possible before I started pushing - so I wouldn't have to spend hours pushing. So, we waited about 7 hours later and about 4 of those hours, I was 10 cm. It worked out great because I only had to push for about 30 minutes. It hardly hurt at all because of the pain relief/epi. I could only feel my contractions but no pressure below. It worked out great not feeling down there since I had to be cut about 1.5 inches so the head could come out :) So, Sam was born and weighed in a 8lb 7.6 oz, approximately 1 week early. He is a joy and a wonderful baby. I can say from my experience, induced labor can be more painful, when things happen fast! Overall, the labor from start to finish was a pretty good experience! Good luck to you all with your births!