My name is Ashley Cummings, I am 29 years old and married to the best guy! We live in Bella Vista, Arkansas with our two pit bull doggies Zelda and Apollo, they are crazy most of the time but the best furbabies.
We married six years ago in June and decided we were ready for kids a few years ago. It was really the start of a journey to living a more healthy holistic lifestyle.
I was already working out pretty regularly(actually way more regularly then than I am now to be honest) and we were eating pretty healthy, but had plenty of learning and growing to do.
My biggest switch then was dropping the caffeine, we were both working night shifts and lived on energy drinks and coffee. The May before we really started trying to conceive I had a late period with awful doubled over pains and heavy bleeding while at work. My coworkers believe I could actually have been having an early miscarriage, I never got it checked out because it seemed to pass after several hours. I will never really know if that was what happened, but it led me on a journey to learning how caffeine really affects the body. I do wonder if I could have been pregnant and caused it to happen with all the caffeine and lack of knowledge.
I am a research-aholic, I will think of something and search until I find what I am looking for. I am also a dreamer and have always wondered what my purpose in life is, what I should do for a career. Combining those two things have actually been what has helped me find my true calling in life. It is what brings me here today.
When I switched from night shift to days I struggled! My whole lifestyle changed, movement of my body being one of the biggest changes along with sleep and motivation getting completely messed up. I knew I had to find my groove. I tried a few different ways of eating and living, and it was a failure but a true learning moment.
While searching I came across "Holistic Nutritionist" and became intrigued. I jumped in with both feet fall of 2018, signed up for classes and fell in love with the whole process. I started learning how to feed my body, what toxins are and how they impact everything, including hormones, and how I can actually change my health through this process. Early 2019 I had a huge flare up of different health issues that resulted in a diagnosis of Cutaneous Lupus(you can find more on this part of my journey in earlier blogs) it was a hard year but an eye opening one too.
Rounding at a year into my classes, I needed to find a direction I would be taking after graduation. I honestly wasn't even looking for it in that way, but was looking for a more enjoyable job/career because I was struggling at work. Summer 2019 I emerged myself in the world of what being a Birth Doula would be. It was a God thing really! I was looking for about a month for classes around the area and stumbled upon a 3 day course in October not 20 minutes from our house. Seriously, chills!
I knew right away I would combine my Holistic Nutrition and Birth Doula knowledge. And to my surprise at the end of 2019 I would be introduced to a gift course to Fertility Health Coaching. I mean how perfect is God's plan?!
In April 2020, my first client gave birth to a sweet baby girl a day before my birthday. I was so honored to attend her birth especially during the world pandemic that is still going on as I write this. This experience affirmed me that this is what I am meant to do. I am meant to help women birth the way they want. I am meant to support women through their most difficult and wonderful times. I am meant to open eyes to a much larger picture of health and wellness to really assist women before, during, and after pregnancy.
And Before Baby Wellness was born.