Brenden arrived 4/5 (long, detailed birth story)

...3 days after his due date. But, it was the whirlwind of excitement that I had wanted, along with being quick and totally natural like I wanted. At my 11:15 appointment that morning, my midwife asked if I would like for her to strip my membranes. My reply: "YES, PLEEEEEEASE." I swear she must've been reaching for Brenden's chin! It hurt!!! (And was totally worth it.) I was still at 3 cm (like the week before). I had to go do an NST for 20 minutes, since we were post-date. The midwife told me after the NST that if we went home and applied some prostaglandins to the agitated cervix, did some nipple stimulation, and created some contractions (the big O), it would help move things along. So, we followed the midwife's orders.   We ate lunch, then lounged around for a bit. I wasn't contracting at all, noticeably. Around 1:30, I started having some painful contractions. I was thinking that they were just more Braxton-Hicks contractions, so I joked that I should take a nap, since that always killed them before. They were less than 10 minutes apart. I laid down with my hubby's stopwatch so I could keep timing. They were less than 7 minutes apart during my nap, and were too painful to sleep through. I called the midwife when I got up. She said I could stay home a bit longer if I wanted to. I made a few phone calls to the ladies who were helping with our older kids. They came quick, even though I told them I thought we had time. I'm glad they did. The contractions moved to less than 4 minutes apart once I started moving again, and by 6, they were just a couple minutes apart. I had planned to walk in through the main entrance and walk myself up to the 3rd floor birth center, but ended up telling my hubby that we were going in through the ER, I wanted a wheelchair, and I WASN'T gonna wait until it was convenient for the staff. Thankfully, they were pretty ready. The L&D nurse that took over at the 3rd floor even knew my name. After being wheeled through the midwifery center's open house (with an audience of some 30 or 40 people), we settled into our room. It was just before 7 p.m. Getting out of street clothes and into a bikini top (my tub-labor choice-of-clothing) while contracting every 2 minutes is NOT easy...or fun. The midwife and nurse were immensely helpful with that. The midwife checked my dilation, and I was at 5 cm. I reacted with, "Dang! I thought I'd be farther!" The midwife said not to worry, because the way I was laboring, it wouldn't be too long before our baby was born. I got to labor in the tub, and would've delivered there, but I was overheating, so I chose to move to the queen-sized bed. I started pushing at 9 cm, but not too much at first, as I knew that that could cause cervical tears. I hit 10 cm 2 minutes before he crowned. I think I pushed for about 5 minutes total. Maybe a little bit more. At first, I was leaning over a birthing ball, using the headboard of the bed to pull on. My hubby actually leaned against the headboard to keep me from ripping it off the wall! LOL! I wanted to change positions, but didn't feel like I could. The midwife, nurse, and my hubby kinda laughed and said to let THEM move me. I had this, "OH." expression on my face, I think. They helped me into a sit-lean, with my hubby sitting behind me, literally supporting me. Our 8 yr-old daughter was also in attendance and watched it all. Poor thing had her ears covered, though. I was a growler/moaner. Brenden was born at 9:19 p.m. Yes. I dilated 5 cm in just over 2 hours. It was the fastest, most intense labor of my 4. Brenden scored 9's on all his APGAR scores, took to nursing like a pro, and has gained 1.5 lbs since his birth. I didn't need any stitches or any other interventions. It was AMAZING!!!