Hey ladies. I've been home with our little bundle for five hours now and am still amazed that I get to be mama to this wonderful little girl.

This is a long one so settle in.

I woke Friday (39w6d) morning and felt a trickle down my leg. I wasn't convinced it was my water breaking, but half an hour later I lost my mucus plug. DH came home and he was convinced it was my water. We called the doctor and they said to labor at home until my contractions were regular at five minutes apart for a minute long. Or in ten hours.

We waited ten hours and my contractions were still super irregular. I'd have one and then not another for an hour and then eight minutes later have another. Totally random and weird pattern. I was group b negative so I wasn't concerned about infection.

We called the hospital and told them about my "pattern". They suggested that we go in because I could be having invisible contractions that I wasn't feeling. So at 9 pm we went in and they found a trace amount of amniotic fluid but my fluid levels were still high and I wasn't still leaking. I also wasn't having strong or regular contractions. What I did have was abnormally high blood pressure. I had perfect blood pressure the whole pregnancy so it was a surprise to have my BP flagged.

Three hours later, still with high BP, they recommended an induction. I was totally bummed. I was really looking forward to a normal labor and birth. We talked it out and decided to wait and see what my BP was the next day.

So we went home had a reasonable sleep and checked my BP. High normal. So we go about our day relishing the last hours of our live before baby. We had dinner with my parents, MIL, and DH's best friend. During dinner I started to feel funny. So I went to check my BP again. This time it was sky high. It is usually 100/65 and that night it was 160/98. Back we went to the hospital.

At the hospital we waited until two am Sunday to start cervidil. By Monday morning I was only dilated to 2/3 cm. My contractions were regular and fairly strong.

By one pm Monday I was in the birthing suite working through contractions in the tub. My contractions were strong and coming every two minutes. I spent time laboring on all fours because I was having back labor. I was confident I'd still be able to have the no meds birth we had been hoping for. Our doula was really positive about my progress. At six my OB came in to do a cervical check. Two/three centimeters. I was so bummed. We talked about my progression and how far back my cervix was. Bummer número dos - Out of the tub, my contractions spaced out to five or six minutes.

We decided to try pitocin as I has been in labor for a day and a half already. With the pit came an epi. I never wanted one, but man did it feel nice. My contractions stayed between 5/6 minutes apart. At ten my OB came back for another check. Four cms. UGH! And the baby's heart rate is elevated. Double UGH! We spent the next hour trying to bring it down by drinking tons of water, lying on my left, then my right. At eleven she came back and said that a c-section was most likely in my future given that I wasn't making cervical progress and the baby's heart rate wasn't back to normal. Half an hour later and we were told that I'd need the section.

I was devastated. To cope with the disappointment I started listing off the perks of having the c-section.
No broken tailbone (DH broke his mom's on the way out)
Round head
No pushing out a big baby
No pooping while pushing

At 12:15 they wheeled me in for the surgery. I kind of broke down once in the operating because I didn't want our little girl to be born in that environment. I was ok as soon as they let DH in the room. He's such a wonderful husband and father. I don't know what I would have done without him.

About half an hour later after a significant amount of tugging and pulling (seriously ouch) we heard her first precious cries.

Lavinia entered the world at 12:48 tuesday morning (01/08) weighing 10lbs. 1oz. and 22" long. It turns out her head was too large and a vaginal delivery would have been next to impossible.

So despite not having my dream birth, I do have my dream baby and am confident that every decision we made was for the good of our little girl. We are home now and loving every minute with this little face. Thank you to everyone on HB for help during TTC, pregnancy,birth, and now motherhood. You have all been a wonderful part of this experience for me.

And now for my little darling.....