Amelia Rose is finally here! She was due March 25th but did not make her appearance until April 2nd. We had been facing an induction on April 3rd, so we spent the week trying anything and everything that might induce labor. I walked each level of the Mall of America multiple times that week (FYI it is still winter here in MN apparently) 😂 Sunday night I took another bath while doing my hypnobirthing relaxation and cervix opening visualization. I climbed into bed disappointed again-still having only what I thought were only Braxton-Hicks contractions. Finally during my final night time hypnobirthing guided birthing relaxation I got my first painful contraction at 10:58! Then at 11:01. Then 11:03 and 11:06. I woke up my husband and let him know it might be time to go-mind you we were both intending to spend early labor at home waiting until contractions were 5 minutes apart-obviously we were a bit beyond that point. My husband called my sister to come over and dog-sit for the night while I started vomiting-at this point I was really freaking out. Wasn’t I supposed to be in early labor? Luckily we are 8 minutes out from the hospital. Once we got there and checked in our nurse began with all the usual monitoring and then he checked my cervix. He checked, said hmm, double-checked (ughhhh) then told us, well it’s not most people who roll in here at 8 cm dilated like you! I had little time to wonder at how I managed to make it that far without realizing I was in labor because my contractions were getting serious-an hour in I asked for an epidural at which point my dr checked me and I was dilated to 9 cm. She told me “I really think you can do this” and so we continued laboring but I did opt for nitrous which I didn’t feel helped me in the slightest. In all, I spent 3 hours laboring down, then 2 hours actively pushing when I told my Dr. I really think I need help. In the end, my sunny-side up baby was delivered with vacuum assistance, weighing in at 8lb 8oz on April 2nd at 8:42 am. I think a combination of hypnobirthing exercises and back labor being masked by my chronic back pain helped me to remain blissfully unaware of the fact that I was actually in labor 😂😂 in the end, we are so thankful to all of the hospital staff (fun fact-the OB called in to assist with our birth is actually the daughter of the OB who successfully flipped Amelia via external version!) truly a great birth experience only because of the amazing staff at our chosen hospital. Here are some pics: