everett's birth story

posted by mommy

we had another crazy birth experience with everett. we were again desiring to having a totally natural birth, but due to our experience with owen, we knew that anything could happen and we needed to leave the journey and results in God's hands.

love at first sight

for everett's birth, our main goal was to have a successful VBAC since our birth with owen ended up in a c-section, and we really didn't want to go through that again. our original due date was august 30. our midwife wanted to see if we could possibly go into labor before then so as to give us a better chance of a successful VBAC (owen's head was quite large at a week after his due date...compounding the problems with his birth!).

our midwife mary was a rock star!

our nurse darcel was simply amazing!

we knew God's timing would be perfect, but were quite happy when i began early labor around 7am on thursday morning, august 23. my labor was inconsistent and erratic all day. around 10pm, i decided to go to bed to get some rest in case things really started up the next day. however, after laying in bed for an hour and a half and feeling as though things were already ramping back up possibly into active labor, we decided to get up, begin timing, and finish packing bags. around 2am, we started making phone calls to our neighbor (who graciously and wonderfully had agreed to watch owen) and my parents (who would be coming up to denver to help us out). we were so thankful all of this was happening while owen was asleep!

we arrived at the hospital around 3:45am friday morning, august 24. however, at this point, my contractions really began taking off and became extremely difficult, long, and without breaks - similar to what women experience right before birth. unfortunately, i was only at 5cm. after a couple more hours of intense labor and talking a couple times with our midwife, we made the very tough decision to get an epidural. without breaks in the contractions, i knew my body and spirit had the chance of wearing out and causing another spiral of unwanted outcomes. so around 7am i received an epidural and was able to settle down and relax for a while. we also felt this decision was in our best interest since ultimately a VBAC was our main goal.

from a family of three to a family of four

around 2pm, i was checked again and this time we got the news we were hoping for...i was "complete"! we were ready to push. through amazing support from our wonderful nurse, darcel, and perfect coaching from our midwife, mary, at 3:07pm on friday, august 24 (only an hour and five minutes of pushing!), everett james may entered this world via successful VBAC!!! tears were shed, a baby boy was cuddled, and all was well with the may family. everett was perfect in every way. he weighed 8lbs. 2 oz. and was 18 3/4" long.

everett james may

we praise God for such a wonderful, and different, birth experience. but we are even more thankful to Him for blessing us with another healthy, beautiful son.