The Story: Ever Wynn Shay

When God enters in life starts to do things that seem impossible. The realms of time and space and coincidence start working together in ways that must be God...they must be. And in the birth of our daughter, Ever, I don't know that I've been through ANYTHING as mind-blowing, intense, and beautiful. I have been given, once again, a snap shot...a memory that will remind me that God goes before me. He will not leave me. He is fighting all the time for us.

January 6th, 2012 was a day I woke up very pregnant, which was normal given the fact that I was 6 days away from my due date. Phil and I just happened to be married on this same day 6 years ago (lots of sixes, I know). Phil went to work at his brand new job at the symphony, Rock was up watching PBS kids, and I was getting us ready to meet a good friend for coffee. We had an awesome morning, being reminded that God saves the day, His word never fails, and He has a plan for us. Rock and I left our coffee date feeling renewed and ready for our day.

We got home, fed Rock some lunch, and put him down for a nap around noon. I then heated up left overs, ate a small amount then took a trip to the bathroom. As I was in the bathroom I remember at some point thinking, "I'm not sure if I'm peeing or if there's something else coming out...” which is a strange feeling given the fact I’m an adult and generally know what’s happening in the bathroom. I finished my business, walked to the kitchen, and sure enough my water was trickling out...not a gush, just surely but slowly.

I called Phil at 12:30pm and told him I thought my water was breaking. I wasn't having contractions and was feeling pretty good, but I did start having to go to the bathroom...A LOT. I think I was on the pot about ten times in 40 or so minutes.

My mom was flying into Nashville from Arizona at 1:40pm and the plan all along was for Rock and I to pick her up (side note: my mom was planning to fly in on our due date, January 12th, but last minute we changed the flight because we didn’t think I would last until then). At this point it was close to 1pm and I was still planning to pick her up from the airport. After texting with Phil back and forth he encouraged me to call our doula (a hired birth coach...I had a c-section with Rock and wanted to try for a natural birth this time around, so we hired a doula to help us better the chances of avoiding a second c-section), Susie Meeks, to double check if I should in fact get in the car to pick up my mom. I called her, she answered, and the first thing out of her mouth was, “I’m about to push a baby out. Can I call you back”? I said sure, plopped down on the couch to watch a little Lord of the Rings, and waited for Rocky boy to get up from his nap. Susie called me back about 20 minutes later and told me NOT to get in the car. I called Phil, told him he needed to leave work to go pick up my mom and that I thought this could be “it”. Still no contractions.

Rock got up ten minutes later and as he was playing around the house I had a couple pretty heavy contractions. He asked me to help him go to the bathroom and as I was pulling his pants down and setting him on the toilet I had a REALLY heavy contraction. I was thinking, “Wow, this is getting intense, fast...” Phil and my mom walked in the door at 2:10pm and at this point I couldn’t talk through my contractions. They were coming so fast and hard that I hardly said “hi” to my mom, and instead retreated to our bedroom upstairs to try and calm myself down. At this point I was succeeding and failing back and forth as I was trying to relax through the contractions. They were so hard and long and coming crazy fast. Susie and Phil were talking on the phone while I was upstairs and decided Susie should come to the house instead of meeting us at the hospital. My labor process with Rock lasted 26 hours so we weren’t thinking things could happen as fast as they were about to happen.

Susie had been up all night/into the afternoon attempting a home birth with another client. They ended up having to go to Baptist hospital to birth the baby. On her way over Susie asked Phil to make her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some coffee because she hadn’t eaten in quite some time. Susie arrived at the house at 2:50pm, came upstairs to check my progress, looked at me and Phil and said, “guys, we’re not going to make it to the hospital. Her head is right there and you’re ready to have this baby.” We were shocked! Susie didn’t even get to eat the “meal” Phil made for her. She started calling down to my mom to go get the home birth equipment and supplies from her car and at the same time was telling me not to push. Susie’s supplies were all sterilized and ready to go since they weren’t able to use them at the birth the night before. God was so present.

I pushed for 40 minutes. 40 of the longest, most challenging, most beyond myself minutes and our baby girl, Ever Wynn Shay, was born into my arms at 4:10pm. The moment I so longed for with the c-section birth of our son Rock that I wasn’t able to experience was happening. I pushed our little girl out, on our bed, on our anniversary, the minute my mom walked in the door to take care of Rock, the perfect plan of hiring a doula who is also a certified midwife that could handle an unexpected home birth. None of these things were on my radar, but they were planned, down to the minute by our God. As I sit here and write the story, the story that happened 5 short weeks ago, I still can’t believe the detail and the beauty of it all.

I had prepared myself with the thought that another c-section wouldn’t mean God forgot about me. I had told myself that this birth would be totally different than Rock’s birth and no matter what the outcome my heart and mind were as ready as they could be to know how God thinks and feels about me. He is so present in all of our stories...truly epic stories on even the most boring days. But as I think back over this wild story, my heart soars at the thought that God allowed me to push Ever out...that my body did what it needed to do and it was so fast that I didn’t get a chance to second guess myself or tell myself I couldn’t do it. With all the negative self talk I allow to go on in my head as a part of my daily life, this was a moment where I did something amazing...so many factors making the labor what it needed to be...but my human body met God’s gracious hand and we did it together. I’m proud of this story and I hope each of us have moments in our lives that let us be proud of ourselves as God meets us with His faithfulness.

Ever Wynn Shay was born on 1/6/2012
7lbs 8oz
21in long
Ushered into this crazy world with a story all her own :)

New Ever!


Family of Four :)


Our Doula, Susie, about an hour after Ever was born


Little Lady, Big Yawn


Bath Time, y'all

Comments

  1. What a beautiful story Sonnie!!!! Our God is truly amazing. And so are YOU!

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  2. i loved reading this! your baby girl is precious, and what a great birthday story. thanks for sharing :)

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  3. Such an amazing story! Ever is such a beautiful addition to the lovely Shay fam. :)

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  4. Tears are in my eyes.......what a beautiful gift that story is. Susie is a gift too isn't she? PRAISE GOD FOR REDEMPTIVE BIRTH STORIES!!!! i know He is good in every story....but this is a joyful one!! I love how you said sometime like, "Ever was birthed in your bed, on your anniversary, the moment your mom walked in the door to take care of ROCK!" amazing!

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