*Long story warning* So overall I had a pretty great uneventful pregnancy other then Braxton Hicks since 18 weeks. This is my first pregnancy I was constantly measuring big up to 2 weeks ahead. My husband and I were trying very hard to conceive with ovulation test etc and thanks to some prayer with it we conceived within 2 months of trying. I knew my baby actually being 2 weeks ahead was impossible considering I would have had to conceive on my period which we didn’t have sex during that time. I personally was not over weight before pregnancy. My husband and I walked 5 miles a night and my weight all pregnancy was fine. I failed my 1 hour glucose and barely passed the 3 hour by a point or 2 so I felt like a probably should have actually failed. My doctor never did an ultrasound after 20 weeks or checked my sugar any more. All of which I felt where kind of negligent since I was measuring bigger and they kept saying “this is going to be one big baby”. So with this I’m kind of nervous. We are still walking 2-3 miles a night during the cold winter nights when we can. It was dangerously cold some days so we couldn’t every night but we did most nights. I was 36 weeks the day after Valentines and we decided to step it up a notch to try to get things going so some nights we even walked 5 miles. At 36 weeks I had a closed cervix. I bought a birthing ball, bounced some, still walked and had pineapple snacks along with beginning primrose oil and at 37 weeks I was a finger tip dilated and begin loosing my mucus plug. For my 38 week appointment I took the stairs to the 7th floor to my doctors office with all my other activities and I was 1cm and 50% effaced. My doctor said if she wasn’t here by 40 weeks they where going to do an ultrasound to finally check size (a little late don’t you think???) at exactly 39 weeks the day I had an appointment for a membrane sweep I wake up to go pee. I get to the bathroom and have clear liquid run down my leg hit the floor and there’s a giant piece on my plug in my underwear. I tell my husband I think my water broke because there’s clear liquid on the ground and it was a lot of fluid. I go ahead and pee and walk into the other room and get another gush (it’s 11am). We get things ready load the car for the 20 minute drive to the hospital. I’m having contractions that feel like Braxton Hicks nothing major. We get to the hospital around 1. They tested seen my water hadn’t broken but I was having strong contractions showing on the screen. They wanted a doctor to examine me. Even though my doctors office is located directly inside hospital just 4 floors up with 10 all female doctors in the practice which is why I chose the practice. They tell me the only doctor that can see me until after office hours was a male from a different practice or I could wait so I waited. The nurse examined me around 3pm and I was 3cm. Finally the doctor on call in my practice came in at 6:30-7pm I was 4.5-5cm 100% effaced. So I could finally be officially admitted and get an IV going. I decided to go ahead and get an epidural. The pain was bad but not unbearable yet. Around 6cm I finally got the epidural which my husband couldn’t be present for I was very upset. After the epidural my husband came back in and my water officially naturally broke I was numb but still felt it. I was fully numb feeling great until about 10pm at 8cm and I started slowly feeling contractions. They rolled me from side to side nothing helped. Some contractions I’d feel super strong and others not so much. Around 11:45-12am I was 10cm I started to push. The doctor came in so I thought I was getting close then she left again so I was kind of discouraged because I knew it was going to be a while. Come to find out she was stuck on my pelvic bone. I pushed and pushed. Finally at 3:04am she was here. She came out “stunned” from being in the birth canal to long. She wasn’t breathing well. They didn’t let my husband cut the cord (still hurts me) I got to hold her for 2 seconds after she was born and they took her away to check her out across the room. They let me and my husband hold her for 2 more seconds apiece before rushing her off to the NICU where she was for about 2.5 hours before she was cleared to come to our room. So after a random gush of still unknown water which sent me into instant labor I got the no pitocin birth I wanted but I did in no means have the after birth plan of bonding with our baby I wanted. Now it has been weeks later I do blame the doctors for letting her get so big. I can’t help but think to myself that maybe if they had watched my sugar and her weight more she wouldn’t have gotten stuck. I do thank God everyday that she came before 40 weeks before if not we could have very easily had to have a csection! I’m so happy that I’m the end overall we have a healthy baby girl!

Bailey Raegan

March 8th

9Ib 2oz at 20.5 inches at 39 weeks 1 day