The gory details... kind of

So here's the long, detailed story of Penny's birth:
On Monday night, we had our childbirth class, but we decided not to go. It started at 6:30, but at 5:30 we had gotten a phone call from Kevin's brother John. They're on a road trip, and could they come stay with us that night? Sure!
Elisa, John's wife, is allergic to cats, so we needed to vacuum and de-cat the place, plus Howie was still missing, and we needed to post signs for him. So there was no time for the childbirth class. Plus we didn't really like it-- pretty boring.
You already know what happened with Howie, and then a few hours later, our guests arrived. While we were running around posting Lost Cat posters, I was having contractions (which I wrote in that post as "getting tired") every 15 minutes or so. Once John and Elisa came over, they were every 10 minutes. We talked and chatted and generally hung out. I had a blast talking to them, but every once in a while (about 7 minutes and then 5) I'd need to stop talking, relax, and do some deep breathing. We went to bed at like midnight, and by then the contractions were like 3 minutes apart.
I called the hospital, and they figured I should probably come in, which I did at 12:30. Once I got in, the contractions stopped for a while, and I felt kind of stupid. But they found that I was dialated to 5 cm, and I didn't feel so dumb.
I wanted to take one last pregnancy picture, and when Kevin tried to do so, we found that the camera was missing its memory card. He drove home (like 2 blocks away) while I walked the halls for a few minutes. Eventually, at like 2:00, they admitted me to the hospital, and by 2:30 or so I had an epidural and all was good. The contractions had gotten to the point where slow breathing was beginning to not quite cut it, but they weren't too horrible. I feel lucky to have an epidural, but I think that I COULD have done it naturally if I had to. That's nice to know. It's also REALLY nice to know that I got to skip it.
Once I was pain-free, I got to sleep (or at least relax) for a few hours. It felt like being on a long airplane trip. There was a bunch of constant background noise (Penny's heartbeat and the aquarium noises coming from the fish program I was watching on TV). It was dark except for the glow of the TV. I was drinking juice from little cups covered with foil, and I couldn't feel my legs. Exactly like flying to China.
At 7:00, the doctor came in, and I was ready to push. I pushed and pushed (at least I think I did. I was quite numb), and Penny finally came at 9:43 AM.
I'm not sure how long that was. Do I start counting from when I was admitted to the hospital? When I came and started walking the halls? When I started having contractions sometime earlier that afternoon? Whatever. It was long enough, but I didn't mind because I couldn't feel it. The hardest part was that pushing for 2 1/2 hours was really tiring. Otherwise, I could totally do labor any time!
I'm so very blessed and very lucky to have had such an easy time. Once morning sickness subsided, I had a very easy time of being pregnant. I didn't have any weird complications, and Penny and I are both healthy and quickly recovered. I know I don't "deserve" any of this, but it reminds me of that part of Mosiah 2:
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another— 21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants. 22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
I have so many more blessings than I could possibly write about on here, but I will just try to be grateful!