The Birth Story of London Everleigh {Part One}

A woman will never forget the moment she became a mother, for me that moment was 6, almost 7 years ago. I can hardly believe I am saying that, I have an almost 7 year old, what?

Then a short 9 months later after my son was born I became pregnant with our daughter Julia and she was born 9 months later to the day.  They both share the 29th of the month’s they we born- they’re exactly 18 months apart.

At that time my husband & I were both graduating with degrees. I graduated with my bachelors 2 weeks before Julia was born and he graduated with his doctorate when she was about 3 months old. The next few years were spent raising 2 kiddos very close in age, going to playdates, MOPS, doing preschool activities, with tons of tears and laughter.

Then we opened up our wellness office after waiting on God to give us the right opportunity. I worked in the office for the first year, with kids in tow! We experienced pregnancy losses during that time and my heart was broken. Although it was a hard season, it was all part of the motherhood journey God planned for me! 

I had a deep desire to have more children and yet it didn’t seem like having more biological children was in the Lord’s plan’s for us, so I decided to consider adoption. And it wasn’t until then, that I was able to lay down my desires, that I became pregnant once again.

I struggled with trusting God that this baby would be healthy or that I would even carry the baby to term especially in the beginning of pregnancy, but I did, I carried the baby to 40 week and 3 days. We planned to birth at home with a midwife, I had everything prepared and was READY to meet this baby we had prayed for!

So now I’d like to share with you London Everleigh’s birth story.

Part 1:

On a very late Tuesday night when I was 2 days past my “due date” I was anxious and ready to meet our baby but not enough to try any natural inducing remedies like castor oil, quite yet. However, a friend did tell me that “what got the baby in, helps get the baby out” so we decided to try that which (I believe) kick-started my labor. 🙂

A little while later at around 1:00am when I was in bed watching home-birth videos on YouTube (I liked this one), I felt a contraction, I thought “hum, I think something is happening.” I decided to go to bed just in case so I could get some rest. I felt a couple more before I fell asleep.

I woke up a couple of hours later and felt regular contractions so I decided to download a contraction tracker app. I went downstairs to grab a snack for some energy I might need later. I got some turkey, cheese and crackers and a large glass of ice cold water. I brought my food to bed and told my husband that I was having some contractions and eating a snack, which he doesn’t remember me telling him.

I ate my snack then laid down. It was around 3:30-4 in the morning and there was no going back to sleep. I kept tabs on my contractions for a while, they seemed to keep coming so I opened the iPhone app. And although they weren’t “bad” enough for me to realize this was true labor, I did need to take a few deep breaths when I was having a contraction. There were none of the obvious signs of labor, like losing the plug or water breaking, which those things never happened with my other two either so I was still wondering if this was me going into labor or just really intense braxton hicks.

I texted my midwife Lisa “No show or water broke but *think* something might be happening. Drinking some water and had a snack. Been timing contractions for about an hour. No sure if they are real or prodromal (false labor)” at 4:57am.

I also text’d this picture but she was unable to receive it so I sent her all the details going on, where I was feeling something, what it was feeling like, how long and in-between. In short, strong movement/tightness in between contractions and intense contractions that were 2-3 minutes apart lasting for about 30-40 seconds. That had been happening for an hour, not getting closer together but consistently.

At 5:56am after she told me to try to get some sleep, I told her I couldn’t rest, she asked me if I wanted her to come to check me. Here’s the conversation:

I didn’t reply around the time when she asked if I wanted her to come because the contractions had gotten very intense. Instead of just breathing through them, I was whimpering and moaning. Trying not to be too loud as my kids and mom were sleeping in a near by room. My husband and I had previously decided we didn’t want the kids in the home during the birth.

My “Yes come!” text was really…. YES, COME! Hurry, hurry, hurry, I think this baby is coming soon!

Next is part two… here!