Yay! It’s Mommy Monday! Today one of my best friends, Heather, is telling a little bit about her birth story. I read this last night and was getting all teary eyed in the beginning (when she talks about our friendship) and then crying laughing later because she’s hilarious!!!!! 🙂 I love you, Heather! Thank you for always keepin it real and making me laugh. Even when life/being a mom is hard and the days are long, she can send me a text and have me laughing in a second. I hope you all enjoy….
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Hey everyone! My name is Heather Braasch and I’m so excited to share with you all! I met Stef several years back, but we reconnected when my husband and I moved to Colorado about 4 years ago. We quickly found out that we basically live across the street from each other, and let me tell you what a BLESSING that has been. As I’m sure you all know, “mom friends” are hard to find, and great mom friends are even more harder. One where you know each others garage codes and can barge in with pajamas and Starbucks in hand, not caring what you, your kid, or your house looks like. Or one that drops off cookies on your doorstep just because! Seriously Stef, I’m not sure I would survive this motherhood journey without you! Thank you for being so genuine and honest, and always being there when I need it most. I stinkin’ love you lady!
So I will keep this short but there are a million things any mom could write (A LOT) about, but I chose this because it was the first thing that truly made me realize that motherhood wasn’t going to be the fairytale I had planned in my head! Because we all have plans, right? How you will give birth, the “type” of mom you will be, what school they will go to and when, etc. But boy was my world rocked from the start when I found out my firstborn was breech. At first I thought, “OK, no big deal. There is plenty of time for him to flip”. My doctor gave me a sheet of all these exercises and techniques to use that had high success rates. So, I did them. Every. Single. One. Acupuncture? Check. Moxibustion? Check. Chiropractor? Check. Aversion? Check. (I felt pressured by the doctors to do this and I do not, I repeat do not, recommend this… just wave the white flag at that point! Ha. But that’s just my opinion!) Handstands in the pool? Check. (You can imagine the show the lifeguards were getting because I was very pregnant and NOT graceful! My husband even had to help hold my feet up while I was under water. HAHA. I am dying laughing just thinking about it!) But wait there’s more! Playing music towards my lady parts? Check. Husband singing to my lady parts? Check. LOL! Oh my gosh, there was just no way I was having a c-section… NO ONE in my family or even anyone that I knew had one, and in my mind c-sections only happened if something was wrong with you or the baby. I had a plan, dangit! I feel like I was very well educated with the whole birthing process being that I had three sisters and had even been in the room with one of them… and she had such a smooth, easy delivery… that’s how mine was going to go, too! Duh! 🙂
Unfortunately, that was not in the cards for me. Baby boy did not flip and I’ll never forget the day when I realized I was officially having a c-section. I bawled. And bawled. I was so, so scared. I didn’t sleep for days just thinking about it. But at the end of the day I knew I just needed to be thankful that I had a healthy baby and that everything was going to be OK! And guess what, it was. My experience was very pleasant. I was thankful it was planned versus an emergency. I was thankful for a safe delivery. I was thankful for my healthy baby! Once I saw him all other thoughts went out the window. I simply didn’t care that I had a c-section anymore. I was just happy he was here! I later came to find out from the doctors that the umbilical cord was around his neck not once, or twice, but three times! Which apparently is pretty rare. No wonder he didn’t, or couldn’t flip! It was then that I was incredibly thankful that my birth plan did NOT work out. God once again had the best plan for me and my baby boy all along. Funny how that always works out!? And now I have many friends that have had similar experiences that I can chat with about it. Where before, I didn’t know a soul and didn’t realize just how common they really are!
So maybe your birth plan didn’t go as expected either… maybe it was really frightening or an extremely long labor; or maybe it was a smooth and wonderful experience. No matter the case, WE DID IT. We are pretty much super heroes if you think about it! 🙂 So here’s to you mommas! We gave birth, we recovered (somehow! lol), we became mothers, we have gorgeous babies, and we all have beautiful and unique stories to share.
XO Heather Braasch
How beautiful is this family!? Love them all.
