Hello! As my LO sleeps in my arms on what was her calculated due date, I feel inspired to share our birth story.

I'm a FTM, and last friday, the 13th, I went to my weekly Dr appt. I was 38+6. My blood pressure was high. They checked four different times, and every time it was high, which has never happened before. The Dr checked me and said I was already 2 1/2cm dilated! I was surprised since so far I had not had any signs of labor and still felt pretty great for the most part. So she sent me off to triage to have my bp monitored.

After being monitored for about an hour, they came in and said they wanted to induce me that night since a couple of the readings were high. Cue all of my fears/anxieties/excitement to flood me all at once. They get me in a delivery room and into that super sexy hospital gown. My mom and sister were with me, so I sent Hubby home to grab our hospital bag. They started me on Pitocin at 9 pm on Friday. After a couple hours I started feeling slight cramping, but nothing to get excited over. The night was pretty boring, and I was able to get a few hours of sleep. I woke up at 7am, and things really hadn't progressed. The morning Dr came in (who fortunately for me was one of my favorites) and decided to break my water. Now the real fun begins!!

Almost instantly I got the strongest contractions. After about 4 or 5 intense contractions, I finally got the epidural. Oh lawdy, let me tell you what a relief that was! I felt AMAZING after. Not long after that, I started feeling a sharp pain in my bottom. Not the "I really have to poo" feeling that everyone says you feel. No, this was like the contraction pain had moved to my butt. The nurse checked and said I was ready to go! After only 20-30 minutes of pushing, my beautiful daughter Kairi Nevaeh made her big debut at 11:31 am on Saturday, January 14th at 39 weeks. She weighed 6lbs 15oz and was 19 3/4 in long. The placenta came out in one push after her. Now this is where we discovered her birth could have taken a drastic turn.

While examining the placenta, the Dr discovered she had velamentous cord insertion. That can cause stillbirth when in labor, so they always do a c-section around 37-38 weeks when they know this is an issue. I was told at 3 different growth scans that it was marginal cord insertion, which really only can affect baby's growth, but is not fatal, and majority of the time babies with that are born healthy and on time. So that is what I believed was our case. Knowing that it actually was the fatal one, I feel extremely fortunate and blessed to have a healthy baby girl to snuggle and raise. She really is our little miracle, and I feel that had I went past my due date, things could have turned out differently.

Thank you for reading! I hope you all have safe births, and enjoy your little blessings ❤💚💙💛