TRIGGER WARNING - *Difficult labor*

I still have to type out the whole birth story, but it's been nine days and I'm still a bit traumatized! So here's the short version:

I had a truly horrible labor. I was in prodromal labor for two days, then active labor kicked in just after midnight on Saturday the 9th (her due date). I labored for 24 hours at my birth center, but stalled at 9.5 cm and after over two hours of pushing I ran out of energy around 2am Sunday morning. They transferred me to the hospital where I got pitocin to bring my contractions back and an epidural so I could sleep. Even with the sleep I only barely had it in me to finish pushing her out! Gwendolyn Eloise was born at 10:38am February 10th and wasn't breathing, so we had one more scare before we got to celebrate. They got her breathing pretty quickly, but it seemed like an eternity!

My plans of an all-natural, unmedicated birth, delayed cord clamping, immediate breastfeeding, etc all went out the window. But I needed to change my plans to save my baby's life so of course I did what I had to.

She's doing REALLY well now, but it's going to take me a long time to recover mentally.

The day she was born:

Valentine's Day:

These faces make it all worthwhile!