She's here!

Madeleine Victoria was born on July 18th weighing 7lbs and 5oz and was 20.75 inches long.

We had planned to have a natural water birth with her at a local birthing center, but that didn't quite work out the way we wanted.

I started having labor signs a few days before early labor really started becoming more consistent. On July 17th, active labor started around 6:30pm and we headed over to the birth center after contacting the midwife. After 14 hours of natural labor, our midwife suggested I transfer to the hospital for an epidural. They hadn't seen any progress for four hours even after breaking my water and I didn't have any sleep the night before labor started anyway.

Luckily the hospital was only a 5 minute drive from the birth center, but the two contractions I had in the car were brutal. Dealing with contractions without being able to move around was terrible! I knew I was going to have a rough time while waiting for the doctor to order an epidural. It took about 45 minutes from when I got to my room.... I had the wonderful pleasure of experiencing a strong contraction while the anesthesiologist put the needle in my spine. But hey, I did it!

The plan with the epidural was that me and my uterus were going to get some rest and then it would wear off and I could try laboring naturally again. The doctor figured we should see just how strong my contractions are and where the baby was positioned because that would really make or break our plan to go back to doing it au naturel. Lo and behold, my contractions were not at all efficient enough to bring the baby further down despite how difficult they were!

We ended up trying pitocin for another 10 hours but the baby just wouldn't budge. Apparently her face was titled at an angle and she was just stuck there. Her hand was probably up by her face, too. At 9:43pm she was born via c-section.

Despite my plan of delivering her in water failed miserably, I was not at all disappointed with the way things turned out. The staff at the hospital did a marvelous job of letting me try everything before actually having to get a c-section. The surgeon even volunteered the information that I would be a fantastic VBAC candidate and that particular hospital allows them. I've also heard that hospital allows birth pools to be set up there. It'll be awhile before a new baby arrives, but I'm so glad to know that I'm already supported in my next plan to try delivering naturally!