My crazy long birth story of how 9 1/2 pound Finn arrived!

My due date was August 22nd, I went into early labor at 32 weeks where we also found out baby was measuring in the 90th percentile for weight and so after 3 weeks on bed rest and making it to 35 weeks, I tried to naturally induce labor by walking & bouncing on my yoga ball every day before baby got too big! I was also 3 centimeters dilated, and constantly having cramps & contractions. As we got closer to my due date, I tried even more things to get this big baby out! We were now anticipating him to be between 9-10 pounds by 40 weeks but my midwife felt the ultrasounds are always quite inaccurate so he probably would be under 8 pounds. Raspberry leaf tea, walks, yoga ball bouncing, and pumping were how I spent my days from week 37-40. And I was now 5 centimeters dilated, 90% effaced, and baby at station 0 for THREE WEEKS. My water bag was bulging and every week, I was being told this baby is coming, and he didn't! Finally my midwife wanted to induce me on August 23rd, but I decided I would wait another week to give my body more time and decided induction at 41 weeks would be good. And the morning of August 24th, I got out of bed and had some watery fluid pour out, so we got our bags ready and headed to the birthing center. They hooked me up to the monitors and tested the fluid- turns out it was negative for amniotic so I was sent home! I went about my day as normal, and felt fine. I went to bed about midnight and around 3 am I had a dream that my water broke, and I woke up to some fluid leaking again-  I went to the bathroom and more fluid was leaking and I noticed it was slightly pink/bloody, called the birthing center to see if I needed to go in again, and they said I should. I was still half asleep and not feeling anything and really didn't want to go in for a false alarm again, so I decided to wait to see if more fluid would come out and there wasn't any, so I called the birthing center again to see if I really did need to go in, and they told me I should again because of the blood tinge. We ended up leaving our toiletries and still had our suitcases in the car, and I figured it was a false alarm so I had a glass of milk but didn't eat and we headed in around 4:30am. I was hooked up to the monitors and was having contractions but nothing more than what I had for over 2 months, they tested the fluid and it was negative again, I was also still 5 centimeters dilated so they were going to send me home after another hour of monitoring. Within 15 minutes of the nurse telling me they would come back in an hour, I started to have real contractions out of the blue- like really strong period cramps- completely different then what I was having. They were strong, I needed to stand up and brace myself against my husband, so I told him to get the nurse- I won't be able to wait another hour and to bring a birthing ball because this is happening. The nurses didn't believe I was in labor and they had quite a lot of women in labor at the time, so they were taking their time and I was still in the assessment room, but when they came in and saw me they knew it was labor and my contractions were registering 3 minutes apart. They decided they had to move another woman that had given birth earlier out of a birthing room to make room for me. Within the hour of them flipping the room, I was contracting hard and fast. They struggled to get an IV in me because my contractions were now 1 minute apart and every thing was happening so so fast, and apparently stuck me like 3 times and did blood work but I have no recollection of that because I was struggling through the contractions. I almost couldn't get down the hallway to the birthing room, and had to stop about 5 times to get through the contractions while my husband was holding me up. The longest, most painful walk ever! Once I got to the birthing room, they hooked me back up to the monitors and saw how strong they were, and decided to check me again. I was at 8-9 centimeters! My water bag was bulging out so much but still hadn't broken, and my contractions were so intense, it had only been 2 hours since we got there- I didn't even have time to think as the contractions didn't let up at all. So much for my jacuzzi tub laboring plan, Jack Johnson playlist, and essential oils. 🙄  They had offered me pain meds and I said I didn't want any, but after I got to 9 centimeters and I was in transition I was desperate for some relief because I had absolutely no breaks! They told me I could have IV pain meds, an epidural, or they just started the nitrous oxide (gas & air). Something we don't use as much in the US, but my husband is from the UK and I knew all about it and their use there so I wanted it badly! And let me tell you, it was AMAZING! I was the 3rd woman to use it ever as it was only the hospitals first week having it, I ended up being a bit of a display/Guinea pig for the nurses & doctors but didn't care at all. It completely took my pain away, but as soon as I took the mask off it was a rush of nearly unbearable pain. I got to 10 centimeters quick, and my water still hadn't broken so an OBGYN was prepping to break it but as she was checking me it burst and it went absolutely every where! I had very high fluid levels, so it was actually a relief when it burst and I felt my stomach pressure go down. She also told me this baby wasn't going to be able to fit though my pelvis and I would have to get on a birthing stool to have gravity help, and also had to stop using the gas because they don't allow you to use it when pushing, which made me so angry I could have tackled the OBGYN if I wasn't so immobilized in pain. I got onto the birthing stool and pushed with all my might for about an hour, and learned that yes you do poo everywhere and lose all dignity when giving birth, but also don't care at all that it's happened. 🙈 My midwife finally arrived and checked the babies position and decided she needed to catheterize me to empty my bladder to make more room for the baby to come. So I got back in the bed, got a catheter, which wasn't enjoyable ontop of the contractions and no pain meds at all at this point. Then continued to push- I got him down under my pubic bone and then it was another 2 1/2 hours of basically pushing his head out to the point of showing and then he would go back up- 1 step forward and 2 steps back. I had my eyes shut the entire time out of pure exhaustion, and I was too scared to open them. My husband said I looked completely out of it and wasn't responding well as I was trying to rest the 45 seconds between contractions. I was struggling badly, and wanted to give up and get a cesarean but kept thinking that I wanted to be able to go for walks with the baby and didn't want to deal with that recovery time. I also had an amazing nurse bracing my right leg and my husband on my left leg, working as a team, and encouraging me to keep going and they were telling me how close I was for the entire 3 1/2 hours of pushing. My midwife was constantly massaging my perineum and trying to keep tearing to a minimal but decided I needed an episiotomy at some point and she cut me in 3 places, and heck yes I felt that. At some point when I was pushing, something popped loud and it shook me enough that my husband and the nurse felt it. I finally was at the point where I thought I was going to die and I couldn't get him out, and told myself to put everything into my next push, and I did. I beared down with everything I had left and felt him finally come out! They put him immediately on my chest. Born at 12:03 pm August 25th, 2016, about 3 1/2 hours of labor and 3 1/2 hours of pushing. 9 pounds 7.8 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long! His eyes were open and he was looking around completely alert, perfect color, and massively chunky! He sneezed in my face and the nurses gave him a bit of a rub while he was on me to get him crying even though they knew he was breathing just fine. My husband cut the cord, after a little delayed clamping, which the cord was apparently one of the biggest they have seen and my midwife couldn't believe it!  I delivered the placenta, again massive. All the while, Finn was just staring at me and I didn't even realize what was happening. My husband was watching everything and my midwife was repairing me for about 30 minutes, still no pain meds but baby numbed everything! And I was bleeding a lot. They started to pump me with a medicine to stop the bleeding, and then had to give me an injection in my leg. I was still bleeding and they were getting concerned and called the OBGYN stat to figure it out. She determined I had retained placenta. And had to move fast so without pain meds or warning she shoved her hand/arm in and began to scrape out the retained placenta while pushing on my stomach, and happened to rip all of the stitches my midwife had done in the process. The pain was 10 times worse than labor & delivery and I was screaming a god awful scream that traumatized my husband, they had to take the baby off and hold me down. And got the gas & air again but it was too late, I felt it all and she had finished. So my midwife re-repaired me but it was traumatic.