Dash's Birth Story

Before I forget all the details of how Dash came into the world, I am going to write them down.  So I was totally convinced that he would come early.  I had had two ultrasounds done around 18 weeks and 20 weeks, one said he was due on Oct 8th, the other on Oct 15th.  I had also been measuring big every time I had gone to see the midwives.  At my midwife appt on Oct 1st, the midwife told me I would go into labor within the week, ha! Jokes on me! I also wanted Dash to come while my mom was here since she would be here from the 12 to the 19th. The night of the 15th I was just getting so fed up.  Tired of being pregnant and people looking at me like I was the 8th world wonder. That last month was so hard! The morning of the 16th I was awake around 7am and started having some intense contractions.  By 9:30 they were about 5 min apart.  I wondered if it was truly labor or just a false start.  I wanted to do natural birth and from all the books I read about it, they all said to labor as much as you can at home because once you get to the hospital you can't eat and you are hooked up to monitors and lose a lot of freedom.  So I went about my day, cautiously hoping it was really labor.  I went to story time with my mom and Jet, and came home.  I went on a walk with my dad and dog, tried to rest and was managing the contractions alright.  By 2:30 I had decided that I should get to the hospital just to see how things were progressing.  I also knew that I needed to get 2 doses of antibiotic 4 hours apart so I would have to be at the hospital early enough to get those.  I messaged James to come home and get ready to have a baby.
It was all so exciting, with Jet I didn't go into labor on my own and had such a different experience.  So we packed up and went to the hospital around 3:30.  I was already dilated to 7 cm when I got there and I was so excited for that! I couldn't believe that I was doing it all on my own.  Unfortunately that meant that I could not get both doses of antibiotic and the midwife even suggested I get an epidural to slow down labor and to help lower my blood pressure which was creeping up.  I said no thanks and that I would just have to deal with not having the antibiotic and having to stay in the hospital a couple more days because of it.
So I was in the labor and delivery room with my family (mom, dad, James, and Jet), no nurses were there and I had  a very strong contraction.  It was so strong, I thought to myself  'something has got to give here', and then my water broke.  I pushed the button to call the nurse and told her my water had broke.  The next thing I know is that Dash's body had descended down the birth canal, I feel a ton of pressure and I say 'I need to push!' Dash was crowning at that point.  A bunch of nurses, the midwife and all this equipment come out to get ready to deliver.  I pushed twice and he was out at 5:19pm! So amazing and quick. He weighed 9lbs 10 ounces and was 23 inches long, one big baby!
I was so happy that things worked out and that I was able to birth Dash naturally.  It was so nice to get up and walk around, almost be normal after having him. My body has healed and felt so much better because of it.  If anyone gets the chance to birth naturally I recommend it, you will feel so much better and recover so much quicker and your labor is shorter too.  I had built  up natural childbirth in my mind as something that was difficult and potentially so painful it would push one to the edge of death pretty much.  It was not as bad as I had thought.  I didn't even use any of the pain coping techniques I had studied about.  I just breathed and let my body do its thing.  It was truly an amazing experience!