{"id":8846,"date":"2018-02-05T02:33:50","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T08:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/?p=8846"},"modified":"2018-02-05T02:34:20","modified_gmt":"2018-02-05T08:34:20","slug":"its-the-things-that-take-the-most-effort-in-life-that-end-up-meaning-the-very-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/its-the-things-that-take-the-most-effort-in-life-that-end-up-meaning-the-very-most\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the things that take the most effort in life that end up meaning the very most"},"content":{"rendered":"

22 years ago today, February 5th<\/sup>\u00a0, my baby girl Ashley was born. Ashley was as beautiful as any baby could be. You see, most babies come out with their heads looking a bit odd shaped and their faces a little swollen, but not Ashley. That\u2019s because while I was in labor giving birth to her, after what felt like a ridiculous amount of time, the nurse came into the room to check how far I\u2019d dilated and as she was checking me she announced, \u201cThis is way too squishy to be a head.\u201d I immediately began to panic \u2013 what did she mean??\u00a0 Did my baby girl not have a skull?? They rushed in with an ultrasound machine and discovered that baby Ashley had somehow flipped herself around and was now positioned to come out bum first rather than head first \u2013 that was clearly a problem! \u00a0Within minutes the room was filled with doctors and nurses telling me they were prepping me for a C-section. My thought was \u201cAre you kidding me?! I\u2019ve been here in labor for what feels like forever eating nothing but ice chips and you all could have done a C-section when I first arrived! After all the pain I\u2019ve already gone through no way am I have a c-section now!\u00a0 I\u2019m gonna push this baby out!!!\u201d After much discussion the doctors agreed they would give me the chance to try but they insisted I get numbed up for a c-section just in case.\u00a0 The next few hours of pushing were brutal. I remember being so exhausted I could barely stay awake, but finally I heard that sweet sound of a baby crying and I knew that my little girl was finally here.<\/p>\n

When I first laid eyes on her I was amazed at how perfectly beautiful she was. Because she had come out bum first her head wasn\u2019t misshaped at all. It was perfectly round and gorgeous. She was drop dead beautiful from the moment she came into this world. And she has remained drop dead gorgeous ever since.\u00a0 But I\u2019m not talking about just being gorgeous on the outside, she is just as beautiful on the inside. She is courageous and strong and she doesn\u2019t let anything stop her from accomplishing the things she sets out to. She looks for ways to serve and she is always an advocate for the underdog. She has lived her life as an example to others. She is cheerful and happy and her smile could literally light up an entire city block. She is amazing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard for me to believe that my little baby girl is 22 years old today.\u00a0 It\u2019s even harder for me to believe that this same baby girl is engaged to get married in just a few months! Where did the time go??<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been said that the things that take the most effort in our lives are the things that mean the very most to us, and that is so true. Without a doubt that little baby girl that took so much effort to bring into this world 22 years ago today means everything in this world to me. I\u2019m grateful that I was the one lucky enough to be her Mom.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ashley Then<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

Ashley Now<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\" \"\" \"\"\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Happy 22nd<\/sup> birthday Ashley\u2026I love you to the moon and back! \u00a0Love Always, Mom.<\/p>\n

~Amy Rees Anderson<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

22 years ago today, February 5th\u00a0, my baby girl Ashley was born. Ashley was as beautiful as any baby could be. You see, most babies come out with their heads looking a bit odd shaped and their faces a little swollen, but not Ashley. That\u2019s because while I was in labor giving birth to her, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[395,501,500,101,1327,46,16363,3405,60,16358,63,5304,6227,16361,3013,240,224,1083,5999,151,16359,244,65,16364,55,180,1768,16360,3105,629,823,16366,990,415,967,3526,16362,112,81,1437,149,16365,5655],"class_list":["post-8846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-amy-rees-anderson","tag-appreciate","tag-appreciation","tag-ashley","tag-ashley-lewis","tag-attitude","tag-baby-crying","tag-baby-girl","tag-beautiful","tag-birth-of-baby","tag-blessings","tag-breach","tag-brutal","tag-c-section","tag-childbirth","tag-children","tag-confidence","tag-courageous","tag-doctor","tag-example","tag-feb-5","tag-grateful","tag-gratitude","tag-great-girl","tag-happiness","tag-happy","tag-hospital","tag-in-labor","tag-independant","tag-inspiration","tag-labor","tag-mean-the-very-most","tag-mom","tag-motherhood","tag-mothers","tag-nurse","tag-push-this-baby-out","tag-self-improvement","tag-smile","tag-strong","tag-success","tag-the-things-that-take-the-most-effort","tag-underdog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8846"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8860,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8846\/revisions\/8860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}