My name is Ashlie and I have a 1 year old son named Dakota. It has been a wild ride since he was born and I just thought I should share a glimpse into my life.
My husband and I have been married for 6 years and he is my best friend. We tried for like 3 years to have a baby and thought that one us had to be broken or something. We stopped trying and one year later I found out I was pregnant. My pregnancy had its ups and downs. I had a sub-chronic hemorrhage when I was like 6 weeks pregnant and thought I had a miscarriage. After a trip to ER we found out that I was still pregnant and got to see our little bean for the first time. I had only known I was pregnant for like a week when that happened and I had no idea I could love something I hadn’t even met yet. I don’t know how I would have handled it if I had a miscarriage.
We found out we were having a boy at my 17 week ultra sound. I had a feeling it was a boy, but we would have been happy with either a boy or a girl. At about 20 weeks I found out that I had gestational diabetes and I had to start watching what I ate and taking my blood sugar levels every 2 hours after I ate. It was a pain in the butt, but I met women online that had it much worse then me so I can’t complain.
8 Months pregnant
I was put on semi bed rest at about 35 weeks because I was having a lot of pain and and I was starting to have contractions. I was hoping he would come early but he didn’t. We were scheduled for a c-section on Monday the 7th, but he decided he wanted to choose his own birthday and came the July 5th at 7:52 am. The c-section really wasn’t that bad and I recovered pretty fast. The worst part was after I got out of the hospital I lost function of the right side of my face. I was home alone and scared that I had like a stroke or something. I went to the ER and found out that I had Bells Palsy. I had to be put on medications and had to stop breast feeding. It was really bad. I think I was a little depressed but never got any treatment for it. I don’t think at the time that I realized I was depressed.
Dakota 8lbs 14oz, 20 1/2 in
Fast forward about 4 months… We had been having some money issues because I was out of work so long during my pregnancy. We moved in with mom to save money. About a month after being there my husband had a seizure. We took him to the ER and they found out that he has a brain tumor behind his right eye on the bone. Because of the seizure they didn’t want him to go back to work for 6 months. We figured well he had been with his work for like 4 years so he will get short term disability and when the 6 months is up he will start back to work. WRONG. It took his job 2 months just to get all the paper work finished. Then to top it all off after 6 weeks they decided that they were going to fire him under the FMLA act. He lost his insurance and couldn’t have his MRI’s done. I was so mad!!! We got him on my insurance and got his MRI. We found out that the tumor is not growing, which is good. The doctor said that they don’t want to take out the tumor until it shows signs of growth. Kinda scray to think that he has a tumor and we’re not going to do anything about it until it grows.
My husband was released to go back to work in May and has been looking for job ever since. I don’t think either one of us thought it would be this hard to find a job. I mean 3 months with no money coming in except for what I make is really hard. You can’t get help from the government unless your not bringing in any money. I filled out paperwork for food stamps and my appointment is in October. How is that suppose to put food on my table for a 1 year old that eats 3 meals and 2 snacks. I mean I can go without, but he needs to eat. I feel like a failure sometimes, but I know that the Lord has a plan for us. I know that my family has gone through everything for a reason. I’m not sad, mad or depressed anymore. I know that God will take care of us. I know that we will be okay.
Dakota at 1
My husband found a job and started working Friday the 7th. I can’t wait to get his first check and actually be able to pay some bills that we haven’t been able to touch in a while.
I know this was long, but I just wanted to give a little back story.
