Marissa Lawton’s Birth Story
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Today’s birth story episode features Marissa Lawton who discusses getting pregnant with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and dealing with fertility treatments. Marissa is a military spouse and discusses the experience she had giving birth at a military hospital. She experienced vast differences between the day and night shift of doctors and nurses and was in labor for over 30 hours.
Marissa also discusses the anxiety she dealt with about infertility, about whether a fertilized egg would be viable, how many babies she would carry and whether her baby would be healthy throughout her pregnancy.
She also explains that her anxiety also caused her to make birth choices she probably wouldn’t have otherwise. For instance, she wanted a natural birth, and did deliver vaginally, but was induced (41 and 5) with pitocin and ended up having an epidural after feeling unsupported by some of the hospital staff. Marissa also dealt with a strong nesting instinct that manifested almost like OCD.
She was apply to rely on prenatal yoga to help with anxiety and practiced it all throughout her pregnancy and wishes she could have listened to her yoga training during labor including bodywork over what the doctors were saying that didn’t feel right.
Pregnancy after PCOS
PCOS is becoming a more common endocrine system disorder among women of childbearing age. Women suffering from PCOS experience symptoms such as having enlarged ovaries that have small collections of fluid (follicle) which can be seen during an ultrasound.
Women can experience loss of menstrual periods or extra long periods. Other side effects of PCOS include acne, excess hair growth, and weight gain. Infrequent or no menstruation is usually one of the first signs used to diagnose PCOS in teenage girls.
The exact cause of PCOS isn’t clear but early diagnosis and treatment can reduce the risk of long-term complications. I’ve recently learned about a diet plan that has proven to help with PCOS called FLO living. You can read more about that here.
Marissa Lawton Bio
Marissa Lawton helps female entrepreneurs who are new moms balance the demands of being woman, wife, mom, and ladyboss so they can live a full, empowered, and integrated life. You can find her at www.risslawton.com.
Resource Links:
http://birthwithoutfearblog.com/
https://empoweredbirthproject.wordpress.com/
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Thumbs up for Marissa!. She is a very brave lady and hats off to her. She is truly an inspiration for all the ladies who are pregnant. Thank for sharing.