Ashton's Birth Story

Prologe 
I'm a planner. Ashton was so planned it was ridiculous. For example, I changed my diet two months before we planned to try to get pregnant. Over zealous? Maybe. But I'm a planner. First time was a charm for us. It was almost a whirlwind because I felt like it should have taken a lot longer. But right on my overly-thought-out schedule, we were expecting! Yay! Now what? Oh you know, more planning!
I chose a few books to read, from recommendations and according to what I wanted from my pregnancy and birth experience. I read The Complete Organic Pregnancy and loved it! (Part of the reason I changed my diet.) Others in my library included Ina May's Guide to Childbirth (I found this inspiring at times and discouraging at times. It's the ultimate natural childbirth book in my opinion. And I was wishy washy about what I wanted, so sometimes the stories discouraged me) and Homeopathic Pregnancy and Childbirth. Later on I picked up What to Expect also.

Like I mentioned, I was back and forth about the plan for my birth experience. In the first few weeks of pregnancy I thought a midwife was what I wanted. But Kellen wasn't super gung-ho about that. I did find it important to respect his opinion on the subject as well. After all, this was his experience too.


I was so unsure what the pain would be like, I was afraid to plan for it. I really thought I could do it without medication so that's what I hoped for.
Being pregnant was not the beautiful, wonderful experience I had heard other women describe. Not that I didn't love my baby, or love the fact that my body was taking care of him. It was just uncomfortable in every possible way. Name a pregnancy complaint: I had it.

The first 18 weeks were 24/7 nausea. I lived on bananas, hot Cheetos and Naked Juice. Yummy, I know.






The second trimester brought dizziness and one ride in an ambulance after passing out at work.
The last stretch was filled with the regular complaints: waddling, hugeness. But also horrific heartburn to the point that it made me throw up.
So, in essence, yes what my body was working on (creating life) was beautiful...the process, not so great. By 39 weeks when they offered to induce me (due to high blood pressure and worry of preeclampsia) I jumped all over that! But in retrospect, I will always wonder if things would have gone better had I let my body be ready whenever it was ready.

The rest of the story can be found in my original post: HERE