Ashley's
anencephalic Story

Finally, the time had come for delivery.  I thought that I was going to faint a couple of times.  Blood and guts just ain’t my thing. I had to sit down several times so that I wouldn’t faint.  However, once the delivery started I was fine.  It is only when I concentrate on it that I get woozy. I am fine in an emergency or when we are actually doing something.

It was a perfect birth.  Ashley was born with hardly any problems at all.  The only thing that was different between Ashley and any other baby was that her eyes were a little sunken in because she didn’t have a skull bone.  Also her brain was exposed and was outside of the skin on her head.  Other than that she had all of her fingers and toes.  Except for her head she looked like a perfect baby.  The nurses put a little cap over her head.  You could still tell that something was not right, but it helped to cover over the part of her head that didn’t look right.
They got Pam all cleaned up and taken care of. She then held Ashley and kept her very close to her.

That afternoon things just because a blur.  We had visitors but I am not sure who.  I think that the lady that did our birthing classes came up to see Ashley.  There were lots of other people that came to see her as well.

I got to hold her several times, when mommy didn’t mind.  You could actually feel her fingers tighten around yours.  We had a little tiger there, so you could tell that she felt something or at least had that reflex.  We took video tape and several pictures so that we would have something to remember her by.