The best laid plans ...

All along, there were several things we did not want to have happen with the delivery of our baby - especially after watching "The Business of Being Born."

During the 19 hours that E was in labor (she was a real trooper and I was so proud of her), we faced a lot of curveballs (which were all related, as you'll see below) that caused us to throw our birth plan out the window:

1. E's water broke - no laboring at home since the baby had to be born within 24 hours or there was a high risk of infection.
   
2. That time constraint meant that pitocin had to be introduced to the equation to "get things moving."
   
3. The pitocin made the contractions a whole lot more difficult to bear.
4. Once she decided to have an epidural, the anesthesiologist had been called into an appendectomy. She was given a narcotic IV drip to deal with the pain in the meantime.
5. The narcotic was a horrible experience. When she wasn't having a contraction, she slept. When she had one, she was still in excruciating pain.
6. Once the anesthesiologist administered the epidural, she was able to relax.
7. After three hours of intense pushing (including putting weight on her legs, which she wasn't supposed to be able to do with the epidural), the doctor wasn't able to turn the baby's head enough to get unstuck, so a c-section was the last alternative.

However, some very positive things came out of that day:

• Our doula was AMAZING. She talked her way into the operating room and stayed with E in the recovery room (I had to go up to the nursery with our baby) so she wouldn't be alone.
• The doctor was great. They allowed us to make our own decisions without a lot of pressure, even when we were running out of options.
• The nursing staff was phenomenal. They brought breakfast and lunch without being asked, helped us keep the baby's sex a secret, and even brought me something to eat and drink while I was waiting in the nursery with the baby for E to get out of recovery.

The bottom line is that despite almost everything going counter to our birth plan, we came out of it with a healthy baby girl. And that's all that really matters.