This birth story would be one of my shortest ever. If you already follow me on Instagram, then you know what I mean. However, I really feel like it’s essential to back up a bit so you can get the full picture. I need to admit something–I didn’t want another baby. Well, that’s not actually, entirely, completely accurate. However, adding a seventh baby was not in our plans.

first things first

Mike and I had always talked about me being done with pregnancies by the time I was 35. Well, I turned 35 in 2020 so our little Pandemic Baby was to be our last baby. In fact, I mentioned that time and time again. Honestly, I could have all the babies. I love having a big family and my past pregnancies have been pretty healthy and relatively “easy”. But, in case you didn’t know, logistics get trickier once you pass the six kid mark. Most vehicles, hotel rooms, etc., are not meant for more than 8. It had taken me months to come around to the idea of closing that chapter of my life. However, I had finally reached that point and was excited about our future plans. We were buying a new car, planning a cruise, and all sorts of other things in this next chapter of being baby-free.

this birth story begins in September 2022

We had ordered a brand new Ford Expedition back in Spring of 2022. Remember what a pain getting a car was for awhile?! The day was finally coming when it would be delivered. I had never had a brand new car and we had ordered it exactly how we wanted it. From the blue exterior, to the extra large sunroof that we couldn’t wait to stare out of during our National Park trips. We had even already named the new car and were looking forward to picking it up on September 19.

| Read: A January 31, 2018 Birth Story |

The Saturday before picking it up Mike half-jokingly told me that I should take a pregnancy test–just in case. After all, we were about to pay big bucks for a brad new car. It would really stink to only be able to use it for a few months before our family couldn’t fit in an eight seater anymore. I still had a test laying around that hadn’t expired. I had no reason to think I was pregnant, but when I woke up early on Sunday morning I decided to take one anyway. When I saw the positive result, I cried.

Actually, I’m ashamed to admit that I sobbed. I was in shock. All of a sudden our plans and our new car that was waiting for us flew out the window. I had finally started losing weight from my last pregnancy and started thinking about how much I always gain. Not to mention that we had just gotten rid of a lot of our baby items and clothing. At the root of everything I was scared. I knew I was out of shape and was concerned about going through a pregnancy and labor again.

| Read: An August 8, 2015 Birth Story |

Mike, of course, was calm and kind and loving. Right away he started talking about what a blessing this baby was and how wonderful it would be. Obviously, my attitude about Lucky Baby #7 changed fairly quickly. However, it breaks my heart that my initial reaction was one of sadness and fear.

another May birth story

If you’ve been around for awhile then you know we already have two May babies, May 14th and 15th. You also know that I had never made it to my due date before. Both of these bits of information are important. When we found out that the projected due date for Lucky Baby #7 was May 14th (which is my son’s birthday) I wasn’t nervous. After all, I had always gone into labor anywhere from two days to two weeks early. I was overly, obnoxiously confident that I would not have this baby on either of her sibling’s birthdays. In fact, with all the discomfort I was experiencing, I wasn’t sure if I would even make it to May.

| Read: A February 3, 2014 Birth Story |

However, make it to May I did. As May 14th approached I was stressed about being in the hospital or going into labor on a child’s birthday. So, when I woke up on May 15th (my daughter’s birthday) and wasn’t feeling any closer to going into labor I was immensely relieved. That afternoon I had a 40 week checkup–the first one I’d ever made it to, ha! I elected to get checked and started experiencing a few, very mild and sporadic contractions. Honestly though, I still didn’t feel like I was very close to anything happening. I had been having a lot of lower back pain the last few weeks of my pregnancy. In hindsight I believe that was back labor because of how the baby was positioned.

May 16, 2023

I woke up at 1:05 am and sleepily realized I was having a contraction. It was strong enough that when I felt another one coming on I couldn’t go back to sleep. I started timing them and realized they were pretty consistently 6 minutes apart–which is kind of unusual for me. In the past my contractions have been fairly inconsistent and generally peter out if I sit or lay down. I didn’t want to wake Mike up unless it was absolutely go-time. So I paced around, switched laundry over, and slowly started getting myself ready, just in case. By that point my contractions were picking up in intensity and were about 3-5 minutes apart. I was terrified–if I were already struggling to relax during the pain of these contractions, would I be able to have another delivery without an epidural or would it be too much for my body?

| Read: A May 15, 2012 Birth Story |

I finally woke Mike up and we left for the hospital at 3:40 am. This was only 2 ½ hours after feeling my initial contraction, but they were 2-3 minutes apart at this point and I was struggling. The pain and intensity was strong and every bump in the car was agony, making it hard to work through the contractions. I was hoping beyond hope that when we got to the hospital I’d at least hear that I was already 5 or 6 centimeters dilated. Truly, I didn’t know how much longer I could last without an epidural and I really didn’t want one. I was thinking by that point that I’d have to have one and figured, “Well, there’s a first time for everything and nothing else with this baby has gone as planned.”

labor and delivery

They took me back into Triage to check me over. My contractions were still about 2 minutes apart and so strong I was having a hard time walking or talking through them. They asked if I wanted to use the restroom so I went and remember thinking–Please Heavenly Father, don’t let me have this baby in the bathroom. They checked me and I will never forget my relief when they told me I was at 10 cm. Good thing I didn’t want an epidural, there was no way I was getting one. They wheeled me into a delivery room and started trying to get an IV in. Notice that I said trying.

| Read: A May 14, 2010 Birth Story |

I usually have great blood pressure and great veins. However, maybe as my body’s way of coping with the pain, my blood pressure was shooting up and all my veins were deflated. Plus, my contractions were right on top of each other so they didn’t have very long to try and place a needle between them. They were finally able to place the IV. My body was starting to uncontrollably push on its own so I only gave one big push before our sweet baby girl’s head was out. The doctor actually ended up breaking my water once the babies head started showing. Our seventh baby was born at 4:52 am–less than four hours after I woke up to that first contraction. My fear of a long and hard labor and delivery was over, but that’s when a new fear surfaced.

saying a prayer

I was bleeding–not A LOT, but a lot. Which is not that unusual for someone who has had as many babies as I have. However, one of the medications they give to help that they couldn’t because of my asthma, and another one they couldn’t give me because of my high blood pressure readings. Also, my placenta was not coming out on its own because my cervix was already starting to close up. The doctor ended up having to perform a manual removal of the placenta and let me tell you–as someone who has had seven epidural-free deliveries, that pain was worse. My main fear when having a baby has always been that something happens to me and I leave Mike and the kids behind. So during all of this happening post-delivery there were a couple of times I looked over at Mike and just prayed.

| Read: Prenatal Screening–What You Need to Know |

Thankfully, the doctor eventually got my placenta out in one piece. My blood pressure also started dropping enough that they could administer another drug to help stop the bleeding. It was scary there for me for a little bit, but only a couple hours after delivering I was being rolled into the postpartum room with our perfect new baby. We stayed one night in the hospital and I was home by the time the kids got out of school the following day. My heart is so full of gratitude for this sweet baby. She may not of been in our plans, but I know for a fact she was in our Heavenly Father’s plans. And His are so much better than my own.

Newborn photography by Shelby Mousley Photography.
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