A Western Australian mum-of-two has shared her regret at having her tubes tied in her early 20s, saying she was having ‘a rough week’ with the kids but now wants another baby.
Ashton Snowden, 27, a hairdresser, was just 23 when she decided she didn’t want any more kids. She had her hands full with two babies under three years old, and with her hubby, Brett, a miner, away for weeks at a time the idea of more kids was terrifying.
‘I think I must have been having a rough week with my two who were two and three – the worst ages at the time and just thought I couldn’t handle any more,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘My husband was working thirteen days straight at the mines at the time and I just didn’t think I could do it, so I decided to have my tubes tied.’
However she now thinks she was too young to have gone ahead with such a permanent decision, and wants to give her son, Brodi, 6, and Maddilyn, 5, more brothers and sisters.
‘Looking back 23 is just so young to be making that decision – I mean at 23 I could have broken up with my husband and wanted to start a new family with someone else,’ she explains.
‘Now I wish I had never done it and want to warn other mums to think about it properly so they don’t end up here.’
She’s now going to extreme lengths to have another baby – including a reversal surgery, which may or may not work.
‘The doctor said we can try a month after it has been done – but if I don’t become pregnant within 12 months I will have to consider IVF.’
She now thinks that young, healthy, women shouldn’t be given the option to be sterilized.
‘I understand if they have medical reasons for getting it done – but if they are young and healthy like I was they shouldn’t be allowed,’ she said.