My little pumpkin ❤

Birth story:

I was told at my 39 week appointment that I would be induced the next day.  What?!  No, I wanted a natural birth!  I had hypertension issues (no preeclampsia though) and my bp climbed through the roof in the last week and weekend.  The doctor said I had to stay on bed rest until I went into labor or was induced.  Well, we set our induction start date for Monday, February 20 at 5 pm because there was significant risk to me and the baby.  On Monday we checked in and I was given one dose of cytotec.  Because I was having more than 6 contractions each hour they only did one dose.  Woke up at 5 am on Tuesday to find out that I was still only a fingertip dilated and nowhere near effaced.  The doctor came in and broke my water and tried to insert a monitor for contractions (that wasn't working so they removed it). Found out that I had a double membrane so that was neat... lot of water came out- seriously underestimated how much water there was in there lol.  Eventually started having some good contractions around 9 and found my rhythm for getting through each one. I was doing really well and was flying through each one as they got closer together... my pain level reached maybe a 6, but it was definitely manageable through deep breathing techniques and, funnily enough, singing.  Around 12 the nurses wanted to insert the internal monitors- I was at a 4 and about 60% effaced!  As they were inserting the monitors it hurt me a LOT because there was so much pressure; then, because I was on my back for ten minutes, baby's heart rate lowered a lot and we were turned and put on oxygen until her heart rate returned to normal... scary situation but the nursing staff were on top of it. Well, we ended up getting set back by that- baby moved out of the pelvis- and I stayed between 3-4 cm until 7pm.  At that point my contractions were hitting a 7 on my pain scale and were 2-3 minutes apart, no improvement at all in dilation so the doctor told me she thinks a c-section is the best idea.  We contemplated it and decided to get an epidural and check in an hour to see if it relaxed us enough to do vaginal.  That didn't work so at 9:45 they prepped me for surgery and she was born by c-section at 10:16pm.  I can honestly say that even though I was really disappointed that I had to get an epidural and have a c-section, I wouldn't have changed the outcome for anything.  We love our little Nora so much!  The past 24 hours have been filled with breastfeeding and nurse checks and skin to skin with this beautiful little girl.  I'm sore but up and walking on my own to the bathroom and around the floor, hoping to get a shower later this morning to feel a little more normal.  😊