This post is sponsored by Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Throughout my entire pregnancy, I was told that Franky was big. We knew our conception date, so there was no chance our numbers were off — “You just make big babies” multiple doctors told me. Ava wasn’t big, per say, but she was tall. Really tall. I’m talking always 2-4 weeks ahead in length and since the time she was born, her height was always off the charts. So, with all of that in mind, they expected me to have a tall baby.

But Franky — he was big. Not just tall... big all around. Big head, big belly and tall based on all the measurements, so I very well expected he would just get too big and evict himself. And I expected him to come early.

Ava came on her own terms 3 days early so of course my much bigger baby would do the same, right? Wrong. Very wrong.

Two weeks before my due date and I was at 1cm. Nothing at all happened. One week before my due date and somehow I was only at 1cm. Really? I still had hope as I know things can change in an instant with labor but I wasn’t even “ripe” so my doctor went ahead and scheduled an induction. Franky was still measuring extremely big and she didn’t want him to get so big that we’d potentially end in a C-section. As my due date approached, that induction was set for exactly 40 weeks.

My husband and I went in the night before my induction to “get things started.” I was checked, no progress, so they decided to proceed with aiding my body in the first step of labor: the ripening of the cervix.

Looking back now, I wish had a resource at the time like Mybirthplan.com to help prepare for the unexpected nature of an induction. Assuming Franky would be early like Ava, it would have been great to know all my options prior to my induction so that I could talk to my doctor about them. MyBirthPlan has all of these great resources and information.

Ultimately my doctor gave me one last try before she was going to call a C-section and those words clearly made me push harder than I’d ever pushed before. And out he came, 9lbs 4oz of chubby perfection. And that’s Franky’s birth story in nutshell!

I didn’t have a birth plan in place. My birth plan with Ava was to “get her out safely” and because everything went smoothly, like unusually smoothly, I expected the same to happen with Franky. I didn’t expect to be induced! I expected none of that and I had no plans or wishes or goals in mind. And while everything turned out fine in the end and it would’ve turned out just fine had the C-section been necessary, a plan or at least some sort of idea of expectations and how things may turn out if they didn’t turn out exactly as planned may have been a good thing.

 My Birth Plan is here for guidance and support, whether labor and delivery go exactly as planned or they go the opposite of what you’d expect. Of course we all want our doctors to do what they need to for a safe delivery for both mama and our precious babies, but being prepared and knowing possible outcomes is so necessary -- especially after everything going the opposite of what I expected and experienced the first time around.

My Birth Plan not only guides you through the planning process, but they’ve got so many helpful resources for us mamas, including labor and delivery questions, cervical ripening methods used in an induction, information about the induction process, possible interventions that may be necessary and so much more!

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