Life is changing….
But isn’t it always?
Isn’t that the beauty of it all?

I just wanted to say a quick THANK YOU and give you all a little update on why I’ve been MIA lately. Whether you follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or if we are simply email friends… you may or may not have seen our biggest announcement!

We recently welcomed our second little princess, Teagan Joy, into the world! She came over 3 weeks early and decided we should share a birthday! Talk about best birthday present ever! 

Teagan was born on August 1 at 8:07 pm.

Here is how the day went:

It was a crazy day! I didn’t realize it, but around 7 am my water broke. It wasn’t the “gushing” that happened with my first or like they show in the movies. Honestly, I sneezed and thought I peed my pants, again (sorry, tmi?!) lol!

I called my mom to tell her we were booking her a flight for tomorrow because I knew she was coming. I honestly didn’t want to deliver on my birthday (selfish me). I was thinking she’d be born on the second of August.

Since it was my birthday and the random, perfect timing of my husband’s job, he was able to spend most the day with us! We took our toddler to gymnastics, out to lunch, I went and got a pedicure… All while having awfully painful contractions.

Did you know that if your water breaks early it’s actually more painful labor because the head is pushing right on your cervix?! (With my first baby my water didn’t break until I was already 8 cm dilated).

Around 3pm we decided to go to the mall to pick up my ice cream cake for my birthday and grab a few things from Target. At this point my contractions were rapidly increasing from an hour apart to 40 minutes to 20 minutes to around 11 minutes apart. We rushed home. As fast as a pregnant waddling woman in labor can rush to her car. 😉 

Our neighbors were outside and luckily not busy so our toddler could stay with them.

We got checked into the hospital and by the time I was seen it was about 5:30 and was 4 cm dilated. They got me my room, and I was admitted filling or all kinds of paperwork because this wasn’t the hospital was “supposed” to deliver at.

At 7:30 the nurse checked me again. Only 6 cm. she told me baby will come tonight but could take a few more hours. Hell no. I did not think this pain could last that much longer.

She kept telling me if I feel I need to push to tell her. “You’ll know,” she said. 

I didn’t believe her.

Then, at exactly 8pm I said, somethings happening. It’s happening. Yep, the baby was ready to come.

It all escalated so quickly.

Within 5 minutes our room was filled with like 15 people (okay that’s exaggerating but there were a ton of pole there because she wa premature). Nurse told me hold her in.

Then she said I could push. Oh man, I pushed. And at that point. Pushing actually felt like a relief compared to the pain of the contractions. 

I pushed two time and she was born! 

I remember looking at my husband and saying, “what the F just happened?! “

I was in shock that it happened so quickly!

Thankfully because of my healthy pregnancy and uncomplicated labor and delivery, I had a quick and speedy recovery. Besides being tired with long nights and feedings every 2-3 hours, trying to keep up with the toddler, I feel amazing! I am exclusively breastfeeding also which means I am the only source of nutrition for my baby. Luckily I’ve got a great supply of milk and Teagan is nursing like a champ! I’m back to exercising already and am still keeping up with a little bit of working from home. 

Life with 2 little ones has been tiring, but i cannot wait for our future. We were extremely fortunate that my mom was able to come down to help take care of our toddler for a few weeks right after I had the baby and that my mother in law is coming tomorrow to visit! 

I am not “technically” taking maternity leave. I have lightened my work load, I am not taking any one-on-one clients at this time, and I have extra help where I need it… but I am still here for help and support.

In fact, September 5th I’m hosting a virtual contest with my company Beachbody and everyone who participates for the 4 weeks will be entered to win a piece of the $1-$3 million purse that Beachbody is contributing to people who workout & eat healthy throughout the month.

Email AshleySweeneyRD@gmail.com for more info!

 Thank you again for your outpouring love and support during this time! Thank you also for your patience if I’ve been slow to respond to calls, emails, texts or messages. I promise to get back to you during nap times or when I’ve caught a little Zzzz’s myself! 😉