Happy Valentine's Day!

We are so proud, overjoyed, and overwhelmed to introduce our perfect daughter.Born on February 12th at 7:16 pm with a full head of hair (!). 7 lbs, 14 oz. and 21 3/4" long.

I had a long and difficult labour, as she was occiput posterior (facing forward). Back labour is possibly the worst thing ever. Early labour started on Thursday, and after 18 hours of that, my water broke late Friday night. We laboured at home overnight with the midwives here, went into hospital at 7am on Saturday at 7cm dilated, where labour stalled for many hours because of her position.

My birth plan went out the window due to the extreme pain of back labour, a cord wrapped around her neck causing her heart rate to drop during contractions, and my exhaustion after being up three days and two nights labouring. I ended up with an epidural, which then caused the contractions to slow down, and led to oxytocin to induce contractions (there goes the natural, unmedicated birth I was hoping for). It did allow me to catch a brief nap before heading into pushing.

An OB tried to turn her, but she proved stubborn and wouldn't budge. Unfortunately, that manipulation set us back some and probably prolonged labour some more. I stalled again at 9cm, and the threat of a vacuum delivery or, worse, a c-section, loomed. I developed a low fever due to exhaustion, low blood sugar, and dehydration. My blood pressure dropped dramatically. I was pumped up with 3L of fluids.

My midwife checked the effacement and thought if I started pushing, it just might work out. I pushed for two and a half hours, coached the whole time by my amazing husband and midwife. It was incredibly hard work, especially after all I'd already been through. My epidural catheter fell out at some point and soaked the sheets below me - I started feeling the contractions in my back again and was in tears, just about ready to give up because I couldn't handle more of those. Luckily, they managed to get the dose going again.

At the two hour point, my midwife told me that if we didn't get her coming out soon, I'd be heading to the OR. The work of delivery had caused baby to pass meconium in the fluid as well. That gave me the motivation I needed to use my last ounce of strength to get her out.

My husband caught her as she came, cut the cord, and she was rushed off to the warming table and a respiratory therapist and NICU nurses to suction the meconium before she breathed it in (so much for delayed cord clamping and immediate skin-to-skin contact). A few minutes later she was returned to me, all cleaned up and so, so beautiful. While the three of us bonded, I was sutured up from a 2nd degree tear - luckily, a very straight and apparently "easy" tear that will heal well.

We had to stay the night in hospital because of the meconium and my blood pressure scare.

We are finally home and getting used to a whole new life. More to come later.