Hey everyone - thanks for all of the nice posts in this and in the 'hospital' thread!

Well, here's what happened. It didn't go smoothly. The 1st induction at midnight Thursday morning didn't really do anything, so I got my 2nd induction around 8am on Thursday, with Pitocin. I went into active labor pretty quickly, but my body wasn't cooperating - I didn't continue to dilate, and it turns out that she was facing forward and her head was putting a lot of pressure on my... butt parts and it was really painful. I labored for 14 hours without pain meds, but by 11pm I was exhausted, on the verge of hysteria, and was saying the most bizarre things such as "just cut me open and get her out" and "forget it - I'm not doing this anymore - I want to go home". My husband was an absolute saint during all of it - he really held me together and supported me every step of the way. Finally, my OB gave me some straight talk and said that considering I still wasn't fully dilated, I would be too exhausted to keep going at that rate so we agreed to the epidural. She let me sleep for about an hour, in a position that SHOULD have encouraged the baby to flip around, then woke me up to start pushing. I was fully dilated at that point but the baby hasn't flipped, and I pushed for 3 hours. I developed a fever, the baby started passing a lot of meconium, and her heart rate became rapid, at which point my OB said it was time to consider a c-section. So, that's what ended up happening, and at that point, I really didn't care that my natural childbirth plan was out the window - I just wanted to make sure that my baby would be ok.

So, she's here! She latched on right away and my husband and I are taking turns holding her while the other sleeps. I feel ok from the surgery and am walking around a little. Sylvie is the most perfect baby that I've ever seen, and I am filled with love and awe for her. I can't stop smelling her hair and cuddling with her. My husband is madly in love and bonded with her immediately.

I will post pictures later today or tomorrow, I promise! Thanks again for your wishes and support!