Violet Adele is here! Long birth story and pip

One week ago today I had an ultrasound to check the fluid around the baby and her size. At this point I was one week past due. Everything looked good, but they estimated her to be 9lbs 8oz! My midwife recommended that I think about going in for induction in the next couple of days. I was not at all dilated. I thought about it and talked about it for quite a while and was very emotional about my decision. I had intended to go med free and was worried that with the pitocin I would have a harder time sticking to my plan. But even more that going med free I knew I wanted a vaginal birth and was told that if I go another week the likelihood of csection would increase drastically. I was also told that I may not need the pitocin if the Cervidil or Cytotec put me into labor. So we headed to to hospital Thursday night.

They started me on Cervidil and I slept through the night. When they checked me in the morning I had made no progress. I was "maybe a fingertip and 50%". So they started me on Cytotec. The first one did nothing. The second one did start contractions that were noticeable, timeable, and I had to breathe through. They didn't dilate me, but I got to 80%. I took the third and was not able to sleep through contractions (they were about 2 minutes apart) and my water broke at 2am. I was 2cm and 90%. I took the 4th at 4am and when they checked me at 8am I was 2.5cm and 90%. At this point the third midwife and nurse were coming in. It seemed like as soon as I got used to and comfortable with a midiwfe and nurse they switched shifts. This put me in an emotional breakdown. They put me on pitocin and the contractions really started to come faster and stronger. I handled them a lot better than I was expecting, even with no end in sight. When I was checked again, the pitocin had done nothing and my midwife became concerned and started talking about giving me an epidural to relax me and also about a csection. I wasn't tired and was handling contractions well, so I said I'd like to keep going without. I had been walking around a lot, been on the birthing ball, and in the tub and felt very relaxed. She decided that I needed an IUPC put in to make sure that the contractions were strong enough to be dilating me. Sure enough, several hours later, I was still at 3cm and the internal monitor indicated that contractions were strong enough that I should have been way more dilated. I was very emotional with the talk of the csection, but DH and I talked through the tears and I just had a feeling that this just wasn't going to happen the way I wanted it to and that the main goal was to have a healthy baby. As hard as it was, I realized that my body just wasn't going to do what I wanted it to and what it needed to do to get my baby out safely.

The first thing the surgeon said when I got in the OR was that there was no way that the baby was over 9lbs. She sounded a little upset and kind of gave my midwife some attitude. When she opened me up the first thing she said was "there was no way this kid was coming out vaginally!". Violet was at a 45 degree angle and stuck very well into my pelvis. She also had the cord around her neck. After hearing this we were very happy with our decision. We have a beautiful and healthy baby girl and I am SO in love.