why a c-section?

For the most part, I have accepted that we chose to have a c-section although I sometimes wonder if I could have done it naturally. I still believe that nature gives you no more than you can handle and I question my doctor's belief that my body was not able to handle Z. However, at the time, here are the facts we considered:

• I had been having contractions that were 5-8 minutes apart for 6 days. They did not seem to be getting closer together nor stronger - matter of fact I hardly felt most of them.
• I was 8-10 days past the due date (depending on if you considered 8 january or 10 january the due date).
• I had been dilated only 1 cm for 6 days.
• The ultrasound estimated that he was 10 pounds 10 ounces and showed that he was facing out instead of in - which could cause further complications during delivery.

Piecing together this information the belief was that the labor was not progressing because he was too large to move into my pelvis to trigger the next stage of labor. However, the doctor's visit caused my contractions to become closer together and more intense (as is often the case). By the time they started the fetal monitor (as we were prepping for surgery) my contractions were 2 minutes apart and more intense. J and I looked at each and considered for a moment that we should cancel the surgery and see if I could birth him naturally...but then the nurses told us of a couple who had left as we arrived. Her baby was 10 pounds 4 ounces. She had labored for 12 hours, dilated to 10 cm, and then the baby wouldn't come out so she went into an emergency c-section. That didn't sound like fun - to take that chance of laboring for that long or even to birth his head but what if his shoulders wouldn't fit? They'd have to break his collar bone to get him out. Was that the doctor's way of scaring us to play it safe? We'll never know.

What I do know - he's healthy and I still appreciate what I wrote previously about surrendering.