When we first found out we were pregnant it was a complete surprise. We had been trying for over a year and a half without any luck and I was only having a period every few months. It had been a while since my last period and pregnancy test so when I called to schedule my first appointment they had me come in the following week.

We saw Dr Bean and right away he made us feel comfortable and excited, he worked hard to find the baby with an ultrasound but wasn’t able to find anything. We were pretty discouraged however he helped explain a few different scenarios that could be happening and had me do a blood test to see if the proper levels would double. They went up over 60% and we were able to go back in and see our little teeny baby the following week. He gave us a due date of March 15th and told me I was almost 6 weeks along. At a later ultrasound and measurement my due date was changed to March 13th.

Throughout the rest of my pregnancy I was seen by several Valley Doctors and looked forward to each appointment. Every question I had for the nurses and late night calls were answered professionally and made me feel completely taken care of.

Towards the end of my pregnancy, my baby girl dropped around 33 weeks and I was dilated to a 1 the first time I was checked and 80% effaced. We kept thinking I would go into labor early but March 13th came and went and although I was having tons of contractions I did not go into labor.

On March 15th around 12:30 just as I laid down to go to bed I got a contraction that was completely different than all the others. I told my husband and waited for the next one. After the 3rd I got up and got in the shower thinking either they would stop or I would continue to get ready to go in. I was planning on going natural without an epidural and laboring as long as I could at home. The contractions continued with some intense and some not as much. I took my time getting ready and as time went on I had to pause and really breathe through the contractions. We left around 2:15 and got to labor and delivery at American Fork Hospital around 2:30. They checked me and I was at a 4, they hooked me up to the monitors and said to admit me I would need to labor for an hour and I needed to dilate to a 5. By this point the contractions were super intense and I had a brief panicked moment thinking if they didn’t admit me they would need to get me some pretty strong pain killers! The nurse came back about 15 minutes later and told me Dr Jones was admitting me and they moved me to a Delivery room. We were a little bit nervous with Dr Jones being the one who was on that night as we hadn’t seen him with this pregnancy and we were hoping for Dr Bean or Dr Lamoreaux. After we changed rooms with one of my contractions my baby’s heart rate dropped significantly. Dr Jones immediately came in with a few nurses and told us if that happened again he was taking me straight in for a cesarean section. Instantly we changed from being nervous with Dr Jones to being extremely grateful as our biggest concern was making sure the baby was taken care of and safe during delivery. Luckily once they moved me to my left side everything looked great with baby.

I had planned on a non medicated birth but I had not planned on the days and weeks leading up to labor being so stressful and sleepless as my husband was on quarantine for the flu the week before. I made it to being dilated to a 6 but decided on an epidural before they broke my water and I was so glad I did! They broke my water around 5 and I was dilated to a 10 around 7:00 am.

I wanted to wait until there was a doctor at the hospital prior to starting to push just in case anything happened and the nurses were great to make that happen. They had me start pushing around 7:30 with the nurses and I was exhausted even with having an epidural and was falling asleep in between every contraction and push. By about 8:15 or so they had Dr Aaguard come in (the Doctors switched) and after pushing for a few contractions our sweet little Claire Marie was born at 8:45 am, 6 lbs 12 oz and 19″ long. She was perfect!

We absolutely love working with Valley OBGYN and all of their doctors and nurses! I couldn’t have asked for a better experience becoming a first time mom and would highly recommend them to anyone. We will be continuing to come back and look forward to our next pregnancy and getting the opportunity to work with them again.