09/02/2023
For those of you who don’t know me personally, I’m Ashley! I’m a mom to five, and bonus mom to one: Q- 19, Ezekial- 16, Cali- 14, Zion- 13, Eli- 12, and Izzy- 9. Here I am pictured with my firstborn, Zeek (Ezekial). I thought I’d share his birth story with you all today. 🫶🏽
Zeek was born at 7:32pm, June 1, 2007, weighing 7lbs, 12 ounces and measuring 21 inches long. 🤱🏽I was 19 years old and a week past my due date. My doctor was hoping my body would go into labor naturally, but that didn’t end up happening. In the early morning of June 7th, I was induced with pitocin and had my water artificially ruptured later that afternoon.
In total, my labor lasted around 12 hours. I chose to have an epidural, so I slept through a lot of it. I remember pushing for about 45 minutes. An episiotomy was performed and Zeek was guided the rest of the way through a vacuum extraction. 😣
Knowing what I know now, I would have better educated myself and made different choices. 🙇🏽♀️ I would have let my body go into labor without medical intervention. I would have chosen not to get an epidural. I would have refused the episiotomy and created a birth plan that aligned with my needs and values. Above all, I would have hired a doula. 🩷
I hope that by sharing my experiences and all I’ve learned along the way, I can inspire other mamas-to-be to better understand their birthing options and all the wonder they are capable of. ✨
Swipe left to see the rest of my not-so-littles. 💕
