Parker Everly - A birth story

Sage
Aug 7, 2016
3 min read

Parker is 2 today and I wanted to share about her birth story.

My whole pregnancy I had a strange sense that Parker would be born 2 weeks early. I told my mom to come into town at 38 weeks just in case. Sure enough two days after my mom got here, I went into labor! We were out to lunch with my sister in law, and I casually mentioned that I think my water may have broken in the middle of the night. But it was barely leaking so I wasn't sure. After lunch we decided to go to the hospital to get it checked just in case. I got in the drivers seat to go to the hospital and my mom started making fun of me. "You're in labor. There's no way I'm letting you drive."

After all that, I was still in denial and sure that we would be sent away. I texted my husband, (which I swore I wouldn't do when the time came) and when we got to the hospital I was 4 cm and my water had indeed broken!

I calculated that it would take 6 hours to get to 10cm, because that's what all the websites say. (haha!)

6 hours later I was barely 6cm and so discouraged. On top of that, Parker was face up and her spine was pressing on mine, so back labor was really painful. I did have a labor pool which was helpful, but it was still intense. Once I started transition the contractions became so intense I would throw up after each one and blank out.

This went on for several hours. After about 5 hours of this I was at the end of myself. I was exhausted and convinced she would never come out. It was about 11pm and I was nearing 24 hours after my water broke. My midwife was getting concerned because I was only 8cm and the hospital had a policy about having a c-section at 24 hours. She coached me through pushing even though I wasn't technically ready. I pushed for about an hour and a half and the midwife delivered her head and told me I could deliver her the rest of the way! Pulling Parker out and seeing the person that I had carried for the past 9 months was the most indescribable moment.

I feel like pregnancy and delivery is a small picture of what its like waiting for heaven. We live our lives in faith that God is there, we feel Him, live our life in anticipation, but it won't fully feel real until we see Him face to face. I knew Parker was inside of me, but I didn't have a full view of what that meant and everything that entailed. I had never experienced a love like that before, so I had nothing to compare it to. That moment I saw her face, my life changed. I became a mother and experienced a love and connection I had no idea existed. I have learned so much the past two years, and grown a lot. I make mistakes often, but luckily Parker is very easy going and forgiving... Somehow she's turning out pretty great despite me.