I’m a FTM who didn’t discover I was pregnant until 5 months along. 😳

Yes, no lie, and yes, I honestly didn’t know. 😅 No, I don’t get my cycle monthly, as I have endometriosis, and I was actually told Jan ‘18 by my OB that I had little to no chance to conceive 😥, and pregnancy was faaar from my mind, although I ALWAYS desired a child. 😭

I was grieving the thought of being unable to give my husband children, when we found out we were expecting at 20 weeks. 🤯🤩🥳

Little to say, the rest was a whirlwind... I’d always desired a natural birth, 🌱and instead of getting to pick out what nursery theme and pour over baby registry items 🧸, we enrolled in a Bradley birth class in the nick of time, ⏰ and desperately began preparing for the bare necessities... 😬 car seat, stroller, newborn outfit, did I mention birth class? 😅

Everything happened so fast, I never got the opportunity to share my birth story or my birth photos... 📸 the glorious moment when I got to meet my sweet little girl... 👼🏽🎀 I was over the moon knowing it was girl... 🌙😍💕

I think of her birth day each and every day since, 🥰💭 pouring over the details, recapping the moment her eyes looked into mine... 💕🤱🏽💕

Life happens so quickly, and newborn days can be overwhelming, 😣regardless of how long and badly I desired to be a mother. Perhaps it was selfish, but I reveled in each day and moment and hoarded the photos to myself. 😜 I also never got to share my birth story (see my page for full story, it is absolutely beautiful)

I didn’t go into labor until 41 + 3 days. My husband and I had planned to labor at home as long as possible, 🏡 so we broke out the board games and started playing Clue, 🎲 pausing for my “rushes”, We put on my relaxing piano playlist 🎼, texted my chiropractor, who had said to tell him when we were in active first stage bc regardless of what time of day, he would meet us up at his office for a quick adjustment! ☺️

I’d been having a lot of tightness in my left hip and pelvis and he did some work there and I felt relieved. 🙌🏽 Back at home I put on my waterfall YouTube video with piano. My husband had been consistently helping me with my rushes, massaging me, 💆🏽‍♀️ and using relaxation techniques learned in birth class. He helped me in the shower and we started doing the “slow dance” position, with my arms around his neck. 👫💕 The water felt soooo good and I started to just let the rushes take over me. We believed this was second stage and we were still waiting for transition, so my husband said he would take a short nap 😴 in order to prepare to support me during the intense part of labor. (Supposed to call my midwife when rushes were 5 mins apart)... I said good idea and I decided I would just try and use the restroom, then maybe I could lie down 😳 well I had a grand time in the bathroom by myself, with my music and rocking myself, rushes about 8 mins apart, I eventually I thought ok I have to see what’s going on down here... grabbed a pocket mirror and took a peek on the next rush and...! 😳 I could see her head and this clear coating... I called my husband and he came rushing in rubbing his eyes, and there I am standing in the hallway with a mirror between my legs and I’ll never forget the look in his face 😂 he calls our midwife and suddenly I realize I can’t NOT push, and I went to lean over our bed and told him “tell her the baby is coming!!” 😍 At this point I thought I was going to have her right there in the bedroom. 😅 She said go to the birth center and we rush off... 🚗💨 we barely made it to the birth center in time, and I was able to successfully deliver completely naturally. 🥰🤱🏽🥰 (I delivered her 8 mins after our arrival!) I just put my head down on the bed and breathed her out in 3 pushes. (My husband to this day is amazed.. “you were absolutely silent and strong!”) 💪🏽🤗 I was suddenly exhausted and fatigued but I hadn’t heard her cry. Suddenly there was her cry... and my instincts kicked in... I started crying “my baby! My baby!” 😭(Hubby thinks it’s was beautiful) and flipped over, lifting my shirt for skin to skin. 🤱🏽 Here came this beautiful tiny babe, crying for love and attention 💕and I was so tired I couldn’t sing like I wanted to but I hummed the song we listened to all the time 🎼 (Lauren Daigle’s You Say) and she IMMEDIATELY stopped crying, 👼🏽 and looked at me with these beautiful eyes, like “oh there you are!” 😍🤱🏽💕 And she didn’t cry again... we just lied there staring at each other and I attempted to breastfeed her. It wasn’t until after that I was told... 🌈 she was born en caul, in my bag of waters, (which is why my water never broke! 💦) only 1 in 80,000 births occur this way, adding to her miracle story, and the midwife told me that meant she would love the water (and she absolutely does... bath time, favorite, took her swimming first time, she’s a fish in the water! 🐠)

My baby girl was born on Sunday, December 23rd at 6:18 AM. 🥰

We had an intimate postpartum bath together immediately after skin to skin, and I am so grateful my husband captured these beautiful moments with her. 💕❤️💕

She is my miracle baby and my happy little girl, and I’m so very very blessed that God granted me her 🥰👼🏽💕🤱🏽