Stuck in first gear

I have had a lot of problems with this car, I am only really asking about the newest problem, but I am including the previous issues just as a "clinical history" if you will. I have had issues with it shutting off randomly, and not starting back up. The only way my dad and I could get it to start was sitting on the starter and let it crank and crank until it "caught" sometimes taking twenty minutes. Sometimes it would run out the battery trying to start, but then a few hours later I tried it and it started fine. My mind always went to battery but it seems the battery is fine. I always have light and radio even if it will not start. We could not figure out how to fix it. I knew the oil was old and low so finally took it and got the oil changed and filled and a new air filter and it has acted fine since then. Today it would not go out of first gear. The gear shift goes from P(park) to D(drive) and then you can pull it right to go into first and second gear. Today, I pull it down to "D" and the first gear light comes on, and I cannot get it off. If I pull it right and down nothing happens and up I can get the "D" off, but still first. I read one thing maybe about transmission fluid. Any ideas or trouble shooting? I would appreciate it.