Love, CharenLeigh

Prenatal Life

So life is funny ; it works in mysterious ways and I’m proof that Jesus’s plan for my life is way better than I could of created on my own.

Justin, Jarah, Urgent Care, etc.

My life has changed drastically since March of 2022. I started dating Justin in December of 2021 right after starting my dream job in a Medical Pediatric Unit in Moultrie. We soon found out around Valentine’s day that I was pregnant. It was dramatic and a shock. I had known it for about 2 weeks but refused to take a test. I was in denial. I wasn’t excited. I was terrified. I had just begun the job of my career. The job was 1 hour from my home and Justin was still living 1.5 hours from home, so the round trip from my job to him was almost 3 hours. That is when for once I had to start choosing what was not best for me but best for my future family.

I quit the nursing job and frantically started looking for a job that was closer to my home. It took several weeks for me to find something but then I received a call that Urgent Care about 12 minutes away was hiring. I applied with a dream that this would be the best for Jarah in the future. I started that in March and for once everything just felt right. I found my new love for caring for people in a different type of setting than I had ever worked before. I was only about 8 weeks at the time and only me and Justin were aware of the baby growing in my belly.

I was able to keep my growing nugget a secret for at least two more months from anyone cause I was still processing my pregnancy and honestly just not ready. So far so good, my pregnancy was so easy at this point.

Told our parents soon after April and my friends about the same. I decided not to tell anyone via social media until all the people I cared about knowing. I do not regret that decision at all. I enjoyed that a lot. I wanted people to not have time to shame me or put any negativity into my pregnancy before I had solid mental health surrounding it.

Justin moved to Valdosta in July which helped that traveling back and forth so much, I was getting too pregnancy for that travel.

Diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes in July which was frustrating and made me be labeled high risk. I missed carbs and sweets so much and cheated more than I like to admit. My belly was huge at this point. I was exhausted and still working full-time.

September arrived and baby showers were beginning and my body was starting to get tired. My hips were over it, I was not sleeping well at all. Everything hurt and my blood pressure was starting to rise. Then Covid decided to come and visit. I tested positive for covid with only 7 weeks left before my sweet girl would arrive and my blood pressure was going crazy. Really that whole last month was a blur because I was on bed rest for most of it.

October came and they finally decided it was time to set an induction date due to being high risk with diabetes and hypertension. I was thankful cause this Mama was so tired. The date was set for October 5th and I knew induction wasn’t what I had planned for my labor experience. So I started at home trying hard to get the baby to move down. I was dilated 1cm so I felt good that with any typical labor, I would soon be dilating more with the help of starting to pump, raspberry leaf tea, bouncing on the yoga ball, etc. The joke was on me…

Jarah Grace Shanks arrived October 7th after about 36 hours of labor via emergency c-section.

Everything I knew before she was born disappeared as soon as I heard that cry, I no longer cared about anything but my girl and my family.

Detailed birth experience to come along with the postpartum journey, now that I have made it to 14 weeks with my girl.

Love, Charen Leigh