Dakota Raine Baddock was born on Monday, October 31 at 4:40am. She weighed 7lbs, 6oz and was 21.5 inches long. This is the story of her birth.

When our due date of October 24th came and went and I showed no signs of progress (my cervix was long, hard and completely closed), I started to panic. We selected an induction date for 42 weeks gestation: November 7th. My biggest fear was having a cesarean section. I worried inducing too early may lead to a domino effect of interventions that could eventually lead to a C-section even if my sweet baby wasn’t quite yet ready to meet the world (due dates can be fairly arbitrary, after all).

To help induce labor naturally, I kicked up my 2.5 mile daily walks to 5 miles, took evening primrose oil, and scheduled a set of three acupuncture appointments, which is the first of two ancient Chinese medicine practices we relied on for the birth of our baby (the second being placental encapsulation). Acupuncture is said to release oxytocin in the body, the natural hormone to initiate labor. I received three treatments over the course of four days at Hu Acupuncture and Chinese Herb in Arnold, Maryland and I can’t say enough about my experience. I could feel my body’s energy moving downward an outward but also felt deeply relaxed throughout each treatment. Less than 24 hours after my third and final treatment, I went into labor.

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Two months have gone by and our sweet little babe has developed quite a personality. Dakota loves to spend her hours awake playing with her rattles and “activity” toys. She’s perfectly content to lay in her crib as we wind up her mobile and watch it unravel over and over again.

I’ve started back to work (part time, from home) so instead of daily outings, our mornings and afternoons are filled with fun little games around the house. This way I can quickly dive into work during naps.

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Where has the time gone? We can hardly believe our sweet girl is 4 weeks old already. At 11lbs and 22.5 inches, she’s in the 90th percentile for weight and length. We just can’t get over her adorable pudgy roles and chubby cheeks.

Although we aren’t on a consistent routine just yet, we are getting a bit more sleep with only two feedings a night. She’s spending more time awake during the day and she’s quite alert, curiously staring and chatting. She’s especially noisy, cooing and snorting, when she sleeps!

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Our first week with baby Dakota has been euphoric.

We aren’t sleeping much but every time we look at Dakota’s sweet little face or hold her tiny body in our arms, we can’t believe we made this little creature. My favorite part of each day is when we snuggle up in the armchair by the fireplace for early morning feedings and skin-to-skin cuddles. Dakota and I are lucky in that we’ve both taken to breastfeeding naturally (and boy, can she eat!)

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4:40am on October 31st, 2017 marks the best moment of our lives and the start to a never-ending journey that will fundamentally alter everything we know and feel in all the best ways possible.

This seems like the perfect opportunity to start a blog so we can share this journey with close friends and family. We’re aiming for a photo diary of sorts that we can look back on as sweet Dakota grows up and our burgeoning family evolves. We hope this is the first of many posts that give you a glimpse into this new chapter in our lives.

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