If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen the arrival of our little man! And due to my complicated birth story {coming soon}, it has taken me a little while to get his arrival post posted. 

After nearly 10 months [and three years] of prayers and anticipation, Little One has arrived. He is our amazing little BOY and we couldn't be more thrilled! Born on August 5th, weighing in at almost 8 lbs, he is a perfect bundle of squishy cheeks, a button nose and so much baby goodness to love. 

We are so beyond thankful that God chose us to be his mommy and daddy and we are currently adjusting to life as a new little family of three. 

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Continued from Part One...

Once in a delivery room we continued in our pattern set by our doula. Three contractions on the ball, three in the bed, three standing (those sucked the most), three on the toilet and walk around, repeat. My room had a shower though and I will tell you, when my labor progressed to 8, 9 centimeters that shower was a GOD SEND. Hot water felt SO good. 

I must take a moment to speak about my labor in general. I grew up an anxious person. I grew up fearing the day I'd have to give birth. Before marrying Mr. Charming I actually had decided I wouldn't birth children. That the pain looked to great for "someone like me" and I'd just adopt. Then I married my other half. And I wanted, more than anything, to see the beautiful babies we could make together and God put it in our hearts to make a baby together. And while we were on the long journey to finally meeting our rainbow baby, I prayed. I prayed that God would be with me EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. That he would hold me fiercly and tightly and not let go. That I could know His peace in birth the way I knew His peace during our first loss and He didn't let me down. Because He is God. 

I had affirmations and Bible verses play on a screen during my entire labor, Christian songs I had downloaded that speak of strength, purpose in pain, God's love and of motherhood played in the hospital room, our doula and Mr. Charming spoke love and affirmations to me the entire time and my sister recited bible verses over me in labor. It was pure beauty and I can say, with all the gratefulness in my heart, that I felt God's immense peace THE ENTIRE TIME. From the moment I felt my first contraction until I was holding our son in my arms, I wasn't anxious once. I never felt an ounce of fear. I never felt I couldn't do it.

Was it painful? The most painful thing I've ever endured. 
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Was it hard? Yes. Really hard.

​I said a couple of times "Guys, not sure I'm still cool with this" haha, I even did joke a couple of times. Maybe not toward the very end, haha. But yes, of course it was hard and intense and I wasn't sure I'd want to do it again in those moments. But He got me through it. Using my amazing birth team and being in that room with us the entire time, He showed me a strength I never knew could come from within me. And it was because I called upon HIS strength and not my own, to birth my son into this world. And, it was just beautiful. 

Fast forward HOURS. I stayed between 7 and 8 centimeters from 3pm until 1am on August 5th. Yep, guys. That was not awesome. But I didn't want intervention and baby's heart rate was PERFECT the entire time (praise Jesus!) so there wasn't a medical need for anything else to move us forward but time itself and so we kept working hard. 

At around 12 we came to the conclusion, along with my amazing nurse and doctor, that the baby was stuck on my pelvic bone (not a shock to me with how messed up I've been down there from an old dance injury) and that it would take a lot of work for me to birth him naturally at this point. 

I was determined. I was determined not to have drugs. I was determined not to have surgery. For him. For myself too. But mostly for him. 

at 1 AM I had reached almost ten centimeters and at 2:27 I was able to start pushing! What I thought was the short light at the end of the tunnel ended up being another lengthy part of the process and it took me four hours to push little man out into the world. 

At 5 am, and beyond exhausted, I wanted to be done. My doctor actually had a flight to catch and said we could administer Pitocin as my contractions had slowed and become weaker due to my uterus being so worn out. I knew I DIDN'T want drugs and in my exhausted haze I actually told her I'd rather have an episiotomy and the use of the vacuum. My doula and husband suggested of those two options to take the Pitocin. Seeing this exchange my doctor stepped out of the room and cancelled her flight (which I didn't know until much later, she is an angel) and said we were going to do this the natural way. No drugs, no cutting, just hard work. 

So I pushed. And pushed. And pushed. And at 6:13 our baby Grey was born. Mr. Charming looked at him and cried and I fell deeper in love with my husband in that moment. A big beautiful love. Beyond anything I could have fathomed. 

And then I held him. Our little miracle. Our wonder of wonders and I just couldn't believe the beauty I saw in him. 

Unfortunately, due to what my body had to endure, complications arose immediately following his birth, read Part Three to understand why it's taken me many months to finally write our story. 

And of course to see many more photos of this cutie. 

It's taken me a little longer to write this story than I planned. And much longer than most bloggers take to write their little one's birth stories. There were reasons, physical and mental, that went into the reasoning behind that. Reasons that will be touched on here. But I feel my heart is ready to share the story about how our little man entered this world early one summer morning. 

At 35 weeks we met with our doula to come up with a game plan of how the day would go if I was able to go into labor on my own. This was something I was praying HARD for as I didn't want to be induced if little man decided to take his time arriving. My goal was to have a medication-free, intervention-free birth at the local hospital. My OB was great throughout my whole pregnancy and knows my healthy crunchy mama way and supported this plan from the get-go. 

We had spoken about how when I went into early labor, that I was to eat and shower and sleep if I could. That I could work on the computer and take a walk. Basically a plan to maintain normalcy until active labor started. At that time we were to call her and she would come over and try to keep me at home until we hit transition so we could make our way to the hospital. Our hospital is across the street so I trusted her with this plan. 

However, God, my body and little man had a different plan to how things would progress. At around 2 am on August 4th I started getting contractions. Hard and three minutes apart. I had been a little uncomfortable the day before, but not with anything I would have thought to call contractions or early labor. Just sme braxton hicks tightening and a little mucous lost but nothing major. I thought for sure he'd be staying in until 41 or 42 weeks based on my symptoms thus far. 

I was totally wrong. 

After over an hour of these contractions, still coming hard and 3 minutes apart (to which my contraction app kept saying in ALL CAPS - GO TO THE HOSPITAL - I thought surely I had a ton of time because this must be early labor still, I JUST STARTED. Haha. 

At around 3:30AM I had Mr. Charming call our doula because things were getting REAL folks. She had him put me on the phone and she told me to try to lay down (ha) and that when things got to the point where I couldn't really talk anymore to get into a warm bath and that she would head over. By 6am it was painful beyond wanting to speak so I got into the tub and by 7:30 am she was by my side, along with my hubs. I met our doula, Ashley Wain of Lovebug Doula, at a local event just two months prior and I firmly believe God led us straight to her. She has such a warm personality, amazing heart and I will say this a million times in our story, we couldn't have done it, I couldn't have gotten through this the way that I did without first and foremost God, her and my husband as a rock star birth team. 

I labored with her and Mr. Charming until noon or so, when I decided I may want to head to the hospital. The contractions were STILL coming 3 minutes apart, however, it didn't feel much different than it had all night. Ashley had me walk the stairs (that suuuuuuuuucked, but probably helped the baby move down) and I labored in bed, then on the toilet, back in the bathtub, on the yoga ball, being held by both Mr. Charming and Ashley and we kept up this rotation to help progress my labor. 

Having struggled with pelvic floor issues for years, Ashley thought that that may be a reason to my stalling labor and why I was in a strange pattern so she called a pelvic floor therapist who makes house calls. At 1pm an amazing pelvic floor therapist was at the house to work on my sacrum, pelvic floor and hips to try to open me a little more to encourage baby. While it was super awesome painful, I was excited to see if it would help. I also asked her to guess my dilation and she guessed a 2. 

A 2. I wanted to cry. I also felt like something telling me to go to the hospital. We did one more round of bed, toilet, yoga ball contractions and then Mr. Charming got me, and our hospital bags, into the car and zoomed us to the hospital by 2:30 PM on August 4th. 

Ashley wheeled me to labor and delivery while Mr. Charming parked the car. We arrived and got checked-in (not before I snapped at some family members who were there to see someone else having a baby because I was in total pain, STILL sorry by the way.) 

Once we got to triage (with me still disappointed that I was only dilated 2) I was checked and it turns out I had gotten to 6 or 7 at home! With me being that far along they sent me straight to a delivery room, as we thought surely the baby would be making an appearance soon!

Again. We were so wrong. Haha. 

Read More and Watch Us Welcome Baby In Part Two 

This post was sponsored by Balance Bar and while I was compensated for this post all opinions on this deliciousness are my own,
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As the countdown to Baby P draws to a close we are wrapping up all the finishing touches to be best prepared for our new "day to day" routine and that includes my business affairs.

Working from my home office as an editor, journalist and nutritionist, I found it tricky to choose my dates for maternity leave, as stopping at any point left me feeling like I'd leave loose ends, and I have a feeling it may be equally hard to decide the right time to go back to work. Not knowing what to expect from raising our first newborn and inevitable sleepless nights that lie ahead, mixed with the need to create and get back to my clients, I'm interested to see how it will all play out. 

I have had an amazing response from talented guys and gals who have stepped in to guest blog for me and the magazine's Fall issue wrap came right before my due date, giving me some time to step down from my roles and enjoy baby cuddles and some time away. And what I am learning most about all of these new transitions is that balance is key. 

I wanted to take this into consideration as I packed our new diaper bag. Mr. Charming and I each purchased our own, and each have our own packing system and needs when it comes to venturing outside of the house with Baby P.  Mine is equal parts baby and me, as I love to get outside of the house and work from local coffee houses and cafes and take meetings when I need to. 

Wanting to have all baby essentials on hand, it was also important for me to be able to function outside of the house with baby as I ease back into work and I feel I was able to strike a nice balance between baby mama and business woman with my selections - so I wanted to share below my necessities to packing the perfect Momprenuer diaper bag. 

• Diapering Essentials - It's a good rule of thumb to have one diaper for every two hours you are out, plus a couple of extras for emergencies or if you are held up and end up being out longer than planned. In addition, you will want to have a changing pad, plenty of wipes (they are great for little hands and sticky faces as well!) and your ointment if you use one. 
• Feeding Supplies - As a breastfeeding mama I have my accessories and scarf with me at all times. If Mr. Charming and I are out for multiple hours or if I have a networking event I can pump ahead of time and supply him with bottles of my milk for the baby. No matter if you're feeding baby breast milk or formula, have enough to match how long you will be out, again, keeping in mind emergencies or extra time. I also invested in a bag that came with insulated bottle pouches with removable freeze bags to keep the milk chilly until it is needed. 
• Change of Clothes - There are many reasons (some of which I'll spare you, if you're a mama, you're familiar) your little one may need a change of clothes. I always keep two extra onesies in the bag at all times. As the weather starts to cool in the fall I will add a small cardigan, extra socks and a little hat for added warmth if we venture outdoors. 
• Linens - As we are in the middle of a very hot summer here, linens are kept to a minimum when it comes to what I need to venture out with. But a lightweight blanket for swaddling and a few burp clothes will always be with me. 
• Planner - My planner is one of the items that keeps me sane and keeps my business, and daily schedule, running smoothly. Running two businesses, a household and now preparing to become a mom, it's nice to have a place where I can keep all appointments, posts, clients, feedings and chores in one place. 
• Snack - Quick, portable and nutritious options are my go-to. Aside from bags of mixed nuts, fruits and veggies, Balance Bars are my snack of choice because they feel indulgent while giving me filling fiber and lean protein for under 200 calories. The balance of the fiber and protein sustains my energy and helps me when I'm on the go or when I'm working away from home while also playing the mom role. They also pair so well with a mug of tea at the local cafe when I want to have a little "dessert" in the middle of my day.

• ​Tech - I bought a small laptop just for blogging on the go a few months back and it fits nicely in the diaper bag along with baby's things. That way, I always have access if I need to write a post or respond to emails. I also have my phone, an extra portable charger and USB flash drive for photos. 

I am pretty picky with what goes in my bag so it's not too cumbersome or over-packed. I try to pack just what we need, including my favorite brands of what I need. From the diapers I choose to the lotions we use, it's planned in advanced before it's packed up. 

When it comes to my noshing, I'm able to crave freely and Balance Bars are perfect because they are easily portable, pack a ton of protein and nutrients and now have a line, Balance Bare, that is completely dairy-free and gluten-free so that I can pack a couple of extra to share with special-diet clients that I meet with for coffee. As a nutritionist, it's important to me that my food is as balanced as my day and Balance gives me something decadent to enjoy while supplying me with fiber ( a MUST for a postpartum diet) and vitamins to give me energy as a new mama.

​Along with Balance, I am hosting a giveaway, so you busy mamas too can score some snacks for your on-the-go lifestyle!

I would love to know your packing tips, mompreneur tips or just a comment on how you'd pack up this delicious snack if you win the 6 pack. 
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Prize Details: Prize: 1 6-pack box of Balance in  Chocolate Caramel Peanut Nougat, Chocolate Peppermint Patty, Dark Chocolate Turtle orDulce De Leche & Caramel varieties. We cannot guarantee flavor preference.
ARV: $7.74. Contest runs 8/12-8/15. 

​For more information on Balance:

​Balance is available at CVS, Amazon and select Walmart stores nationwide.