Dash's Birth Story

It's been a while since I've written on here thanks to a certain someone entering our world. While I've been able to do a little work here and there since Dash's birth, he and his sisters have taken up majority of my time thus putting blogging on the back burner. Which, I guess,  is just how it should be. :)

I got a couple hours to get away today to work so I'm sitting at a coffee shop sans kids (my husband is the best!) and thought I'd take the time to finally document Dash's story. Mostly, I'm doing this as keepsake for myself for later on because I don't want to forget the sweet details that brought him into our lives. 

A little back story leading up to his birth was figuring out when he was actually going to come. When I took the test at home I thought for a couple months that my due date would be mid March. But after my first ultrasound saying how far along I was, my mom and I realized my due date was actually coming a whole month earlier than I had in mind! From there, I had been given three different due dates since my first visit. The first due date was February 14th, based on my last period before I got pregnant. The second due date was February 20th, based on the second ultrasound I had at 6 months along. And the third and final one my midwife and I landed on was February 25th, based on the measurements from the very first ultrasound I had done at 12 weeks-- for whatever reason we couldn't get those results from the first clinic I visited for months, but once we had them we were able to have a more accurate due date.

Not having an exact due date for a while kind of made it feel easier not knowing. I remembered with Sage being three days past her due date felt like an eternity. So going into this birth seemed a little more freeing not having my head wrapped around a certain date for a while. I just knew it would happen when it was supposed to happen. 

A lot of this pregnancy felt different to me. I felt bigger, heavier, a little queasy to begin with and e v e r y t h i n g hurt down low! We didn't know what the gender would be until he was born so the whole time I wrote off the differences as it being my fifth baby and all the changes my body had gone through before. I kept telling myself over and over it was probably another girl. (This post shares a bit about why we chose to wait on finding out)

Two of the due dates I was given went by with no sign of baby on the way. A few days leading up to his birth I started feeling some slight contractions off and on, but nothing to make me think anything was going to happen. Days went by with more contractions off and on. I had my membranes stripped after I saw my midwife at 40 weeks. She said that if anything was going to happen then this would just kick things into gear, so I went for it. At this point I was ready for baby to be out!

Another day went by and nothing. The morning of February 25th I was stripped again and did a lot of walking aallll day long. Nothing started to roll until around dinner time that night. It still wasn't anything very painful and I kept thinking the contractions would just fade away, like it did the night before. We had dinner at Shane's parents house that night and all through the couple of hours we were there I had mild contractions off and on, so we headed home to get the girls to bed. 

On the way home I had a couple more contractions and remember saying very sternly to Shane to turn the heater down because it was too hot in the car. Again, I still didn't think anything was going to happen that night but apparently the tone in my voice made him think this was the night it was going to happen! haha

We got home around 7:30pm and decided to settle the girls down on the couch with a show before bed time while I rested through the contractions. While Shane and the girls sat on the couch, I decided to do some cat-cow yoga moves on my hands and knees to try and get the baby movin down. The contractions were light and I could still talk and move through them easily. I think I did about 3 or 4 cat-cows when suddenly something felt like it popped inside of me and a warm gush a water poured out (sorry if thats TMI!) I screamed and yelled "AH! I think my water just broke!" 

This feeling was new to me since I never felt it break with the girls until I was already well into hard labor. Shane shot up from the couch and told all the girls to get in bed because the baby was coming! I laughed and told him I think we still have a little bit of time. I quickly texted my midwife and doula friend to let them know what was happening. I waited out the contractions a little longer to see how close they would get. I wanted to labor at home as much as possible until I felt it was really time to go. We stayed another hour at home as I timed contractions and texted the rest of the family that it was baby time!

We got our things together, waited for my in laws to come to the house to be with the girls and gave them each hugs and kisses before we left. I told them that when they wake up they get to meet the new baby, which I think motivated them to get to sleep faster :) They couldn't wait!

We arrived at the hospital around 9 pm and at this point I couldn't talk or walk through contractions anymore. It felt like it took us forever to walk from the parking lot into triage! Triage was the worst part for me, filling out papers, getting poked and prodded all while having a baby push through me. I kept telling the nurses "its coming, I can't talk, I need to push"-- things like that. Every contractions felt like things were happening faster...and they were. It was evident I needed to get to a room quickly so they got me in a bed and rolled me into the nearest room, all while I hummed and breathed through more contractions.

We made it into the room around 9:45 and I wasn't feeling comfortable on my back anymore. I decided to move positions to keep things going and stood on the side of the bed, leaning onto a medicine ball for rest and support. Shane stood by me the whole time, holding my hand and rubbing my back through each contraction. My mother in law and all three of my sisters- in-law showed up at this point to come watch the show! My mom was face-timed in too from California. The whole gang was there, eager to see what this baby would be. 

My midwife soon showed up and was the best and letting me do things the way I wanted to do them and what made me feel most comfortable. As I was standing next to the bed, I felt like I needed to push more which made me feel more uncomfortable. She suggested I get back on the bed to a comfortable position. I tried the back again but couldn't do it, so I turned around for support on my hand and knees. Shane stood in front of me where I could see and hear him next to my ear, encouraging me through each push. I remember being so excited to know if this baby was a boy or a girl and just wanting it out already so I could see!

 After pushing for what felt like forever I remember yelling to my midwife " just get it ooout!!" I was over the waiting...and the pain. (No epidural here). I could feel the baby coming down and then going back up when the contraction was over. The next thing I yelled was "its stuck! its stuck!" My midwife assured me it wasn't stuck and to relax and breathe. She kept coaching me through and slipped in saying "SHE's almost here". Shane and I looked at each other like "What!?! did she just tell us it was a girl?!" She realized what she had said and told us over and over she didn't know, it was just her natural reaction to call it a "she". I remember thinking after that, that she must've known it was a girl and was only trying to cover it up, so my heart was set that we'd be adding another girl to our crew. 

Each push got harder and I knew it was getting closer, but still felt like this baby was never going to come. I think I pushed for about 30 minutes until I heard them saying they could see the head! I told them to just take it out the next time cuz I didn't want to go through the pain again. Another push was coming and I screamed again "get it out! get it out!" I felt my midwife help the baby come down and the shoulders slide out then instant relief that it was finally done.

The next and only words I could hear were Shane's next to my ear. "Its a boy!" over and over again "its a boy!" More voices shouted around us "its a boy!" Since I couldn't see anything just yet, I replied back "no its not, no its not!" I just couldn't believe it! I think I kept saying this to protect myself in case they were tricking me or something. But the way Shane said it and the look on his face told me it was true. Our prayers were answered and our BOY was finally in our arms. 

The tears flowed. The smiles lit up the room. And this beautiful boy was actually here, nuzzling on my chest. He was born at 11:21pm on Sunday February 25th making this the fastest labor and delivery I've had yet. I still get choked up looking at these pictures, thinking about that night, and holding him in my arms. He is the sweetest dreamiest little thing that I can't get over! 

If it's not obvious already, we are all pretty in love with him. Not a minute goes by in the day where one of the girls isn't asking to hold him or feed him. Watching them love their brother is the sweetest icing on the cake! I still can't believe it sometimes, that we get to parent a boy. Watching Shane be a dad is one of my favorite things on earth and words can't say how grateful I am to our God that I get to watch him raise this little guy! 

People keep asking me how the adjustment has been adding another baby into the family and I honestly can say that its been just what our hearts have longed for. Having Dash here feels like he's been here all along, like I always knew he was coming someday and now we finally get to live it out. I know when I say it out loud that we're a family of seven it sounds so big, and it is I know, but somehow it feels like we're still this little crew and there's a lot more room to grow! haha. Not sure what that means for our future of how many kids we'll end up having all together, but I know there still room in our hearts for more. 

So I guess that means we'll start praying for Dash to get a little brother ;)