I have been fortunate to have two fairly uneventful pregnancies. My only problem is that my babies are rather, ahem, large. My first son was 12 lbs 8 oz...and was NOT a c-section. I think the most difficult part was people always comment on how big i was but then always joking about my sweet baby who was so little to me. No mother wants to hear jokes about her baby even if its all in good fun. It was devastating to me to hear those things and now i am always overly sensitive as a mother because of those experiences. My children are completly normal sized now and beautiful, but those early experiences are still very hard for me to think about. I hope they have made me more sensitive about how i act towards those who are different.

Getting pregnant was difficult for us. We tried for 7 years, adopted our first daughter and then were surprised 3 years later with a pregnancy. We were over the moon with joy! During our 20 week ultrasound we were tickled to find out it was another girl, OK I was my husband wanted a boy. While we were sitting there looking at our daughter move and hearing her heart beat the doctor came in. He sat down and began to list a number of very serious markers found during the ultrasound. We were stunned into silence. How quickly things can change into the most devastating moment in life. Through the series of ultrasounds that followed every 3 weeks one by one all the concerns that pointed to a genetic disorder were cleared. 1 week and 1 day after her due date our very healthy baby girl was born with not one complication and completely natural! She is our double miracle and is such a joy in our family.

I was put on bed rest for 2 months. It was not good:) The goal was to keep the baby inside as long as possible. Even still my son was born 5 weeks early. It was a very difficult delivery and recovery, but holding him in my arms for the first time made everything melt away. It was amazing meeting this little man that I had given up so much to have.

We had lost our first baby at 10 weeks. It took us a year to get pregnant again. On the year anniversary of loosing our first baby, "Pickle," we became pregnant again! We were elated and couldn't believe it! Once the excitement settled in we became fearful that we may loose this one as well, especially after trying for an entire year! I was woken up in the middle of the night in tears once because I was so worried about this baby. A song that I had sung a million times in my preschool chapel came into my head "Be strong and courageous, do not be terrified, do not be discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go!" Every time from that moment on, I would get scared or fearful, I would sing that song and feel better. A couple months, many fearful moments and elated feelings later, our daughter Olivia Kae came into this world blessing us beyond what we could have ever thought! Every moment of trying to conceive, every heartbreak of another negative pregnancy test, every fearful moment during pregnancy was wiped away... She was worth it all and worth the wait. She is a dream come true, a lifetime of joy, a miracle to me. I will forever be thankful to her for changing my life!

Pregnancy has proven very challenging for me. Our first child, a boy, who is now a healthy, yet small 7 year old, was born at 27 weeks. I, too, had severe preeclampsia. I began having symptoms at 24 weeks, my blood pressure had gone up and I was having severe pain in the upper right quadrant, however I was not diagnosed with preeclampsia and no lab work had even been ordered. A week later I had checked my blood pressure at home and it was through the roof. A trip to L&D landed me on bedrest and with lab work every other day. As the days progressed I became more ill and my lab work started to get worse. At that time a red cross message was sent to my husband to bring him home from training out of state. I started going in for steriod injections to help mature our sons lungs. My husband got home just in time to take me to my last injection. At which time I was admitted until delivery. I was then transferred to another hospital that could care for us both. I did not realize that the end of my pregnancy would be only hours after arriving at that hospital. We were told by the perinatologist that I would not survive much longer and they were confident they could save our son but not me. The decision was made to have a c-section. Our little boy was born at 1 lb 12 oz and 13 1/2 inches long. He spent 2 1/2 months in the NICU and though he had his problems in the NICU he has thrived and is such a joy in our lives! 10 months later I found myself pregnant again by surprise. Our little girl seemed to be doing so well until around the 26th week. During an ultrasound the techs spent a great deal of time looking at the umbilical cord. 6 days later our sweet, precious little girl was stillborn. There was a blood clot in the umblilical cord that hemorrhaged and rupture. She was 1 lb 14 oz and 15 1/4 inches long. She is now buried in a National Cemetery where my husband and I plan to be buried with her one day. 4 months after the death of Kaitlyn I found myself pregnant again. At 10 weeks we found out I was expecting twins! I was immediately put on bedrest. We were so excited and the perinatologists were so scared ;) We had faith though and knew it would work out for the best. My new doctors were an hour away and we made the trip 2 times a week until my 20th week for check ups. Because I was considered so high risk I required so much more care than anyone expected. Labs were drawn constantly, urine tests done, ultrasounds, everything imaginable to make sure we all stayed healthy. At 20 weeks we were bumped up to three times per week appts. Thankfully my grandmother was able to come stay with us to help us with doctors appts and with our toddler. I was given the steriod injections at 24 weeks to mature the babies lungs. At one of my appts in the 29th weeks one of our babies heart rate kept dropping low. She did not pass one of the tests done that day and I was admitted for observation. Once in the hospital and all hooked up to the monitors we saw that she was struggling far more than we had expected. The decision was made for me to stay in the hospital until they were born. A week later my lab work started to go haywire and I was again diagnosed with severe preeclampsia. As my lab work declined the perinatologist decided enough was enough and our sweet little identical twin GIRLS were born at 32 weeks. Madison weighed in at 2 lbs 12 oz and 15 inches and Brooke was so much bigger at 3 lbs 12 oz and 17 3/4 inches. They spent about 3 weeks in the NICU, never having any breathing issues (thank you steriod injections!), they just needed to learn to eat and hold their body temperature. Today our girls are 5 years old and just started Kindergarten. Looking at our family you would never guess what we all went through to bring them into this world and we have never been more thankful for all 4 of our children.

i've had two miscarriages but fortunately three healthy babies! after my first miscarriage we became pregnant again right away. it looked like i was going to lose that pregnancy too, when one night my husband and i fell asleep praying together. we felt a peace about it after that night, and our son was born healthy and happy!

For me my hardest pregnancy moment(s) came just minutes before both of my sons were born- because both times it went against what I had "planned" in my head to happen.

When my oldest son was born I was in labor for about 20 hours, then the doctor came in and said we needed to go for a c-section.  This was such hard news... I had gone to all this work and now I had to have surgery?  Not only was a little baby coming to disrupt my life, but I was going to have a major surgery to recover from, too?  Wow, almost too much.  I cried from the minute they told me until the minute I got to hold my HEALTHY 9lb 9oz little boy.

My second birth story was suppose to be so much "easier", I scheduled my c-section for my mom's 60th birthday, I had a great last day as an only child day planned for my little 2 year old... and I went into labor- a day early!  I cried again, because it didn't go as planned AND I went into labor anyway!  But it stopped again when I had my healthy 9lb 9oz baby boy in my arms!

But I learned both days that God had a plan for our family and he is in charge. 

I can't say I have one worse moment in my pregnancies, because my entire pregnancy is rough. I have type one diabetes and keeping it under control is not an easy job. I worry about baby and well they are growing. My best moment is learning to rely more on God. Seeing how he takes care of my little one even before they are born. And loving that first moment when I get to hold my new baby and smell their sweet smell. Each one is a miracle!

I have been so blessed with four healthy babies. I have loved each of my pregnancies and cannot wait for more! I ended up having an emergency c-section with my first. Although I was so thankful for a healthy baby, I was still a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to experience a "normal" delivery. My doctor has been so wonderful and supportive with each delivery. I have now had three successful vaginal deliveries since my c-section! And with my last baby, I was able to have her naturally. Again, I feel so blessed to have four beautiful children and am amazed at how God works in our lives.

When I was pregnant with my third child I was diagnosed with Polyhymnia , which is excess amniotic fluid. I was put on bed rest at 26 weeks. At 36 weeks I had gained 65 lbs and it was all in my stomach. Actually from the back you couldn't even tell I was pregnant. I went in the hospital to have some of the fluid drawn out. The needle slipped out of my uterus and was causing a lot of pain. Due to all the other complications we decided it would be best to have a c-section. My little man wasn't quite ready to come into the world yet, so he spent 10 days in NICU. So, the best day of my pregnancy was when I was finally able to bring my little man home from the hospital. He is such a blessing to us.