her golden light

A boy! Parker William Salley was born on September 27th at 3:51pm. 9 pounds 1 ounce and 21.5 inches long.

The name “Parker” chose us a long time ago, when we fell in love at a magical little country club on the Parker River and spent endless summer days boating on the Parker. This river also leads through the marshes to where we got married at Castle Hill. It will always be our home. We are honored to pass along Grandpa Bill’s name (William) to our baby boy. He carries all his magic and love and was destined to be ours.

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The day before I went into labor, Ben and I went for our 41 week ultrasound to check on baby. Baby scored an 8/8 and looked “perfect” according to the Dr. and they let us know baby was measuring big… over 9 pounds! We were shocked! The Dr. pushed me to choose three dates for an induction and said “if it was up to me, I would induce you tomorrow!”
Ben and I went out to dinner at a random place on the way home that we had never been to before and there ended up being a painting above our table of the Parker River. It would be our last dinner out with Parker on the inside.

My mama heart felt very strongly about not wanting to be induced. At this point, Meg had been staying with us/our parents on baby watch for 10 days and it felt like baby was never going to decide to come out. I had been having Braxton Hicks every night since Meg arrived, so each night I thought it was “go time” and I would lay awake in the middle of the night timing the contractions and then eventually drift off to sleep as they would fade. I felt like a pregnant unicorn out in public carrying on Summer’s daily activities. I loved seeing the look on peoples’ faces when they would ask me when I was due and hear my answer… (haha!)

That *overdue* week I had gone to acupuncture, prenatal massage, and went on multiple long walks. Each day that went by was tough on me emotionally, but also felt like a chance to do one more summery thing as a family of three. So we filled out evenings with special memories and I will always look back at those days with the most special feelings in my heart.

The next day was September 26th and I was 41 weeks + 1 day. Ben and I took Summer to a playground in the woods nearby and I tried to make a mini hike out of it - we played hide and seek with Summer running behind trees. I stepped on tree stumps and over branches and whatever it took to really get my body moving. By the time we left, I felt cramping and discomfort which made me wonder if all that movement had helped baby to get the memo! We got home to chicken parm that Meg had cooked and while I ate, I wondered to myself if this would be the last dinner before baby #2…

That night, I put Summer to bed with my huge baby bump and rocked her in her rocking chair until she fell asleep. As I was rocking her, I felt the contractions start up. I knew in my heart this was it! I sat there rocking her and the tears started flowing. I stayed in that rocking chair for longer than ever, soaking up my sleeping toddler in my arms and my very pregnant belly with each contraction. It was the craziest feeling thinking about all those nights I rocked her dreaming of being pregnant, then all the nights Parker had been rocking with us as he grew in my tummy since last winter.

I snapped this photo in the rocker so I could cherish this moment forever.

I came out of her room and sat next to Ben on the couch - but I hadn’t told him anything yet. He had been joking all week about how I better not go into labor when the new episode of a Star Wars show was released… and here I was… breathing through the start of the contractions, looking exhausted and he said, “why don’t you head to bed and get some rest?” and I told him I just wanted to stay right there next to him because I was pretty sure this was finally happening.

We called the Dr. and since I was going on 9 days past my due date, I really felt better getting to the hospital at this point to see what was happening. They told me to head in. That morning I had asked Meg to stay at our place for the night, so it worked out really well to have Summer all set and cared for and be ready to go. I remember stepping outside and looking up at the moon on our walk to the car and thinking “life will never be the same” … :)

The beginning of labor at home!

When we got settled in at the hospital, it was around midnight and I found out when we got there that they had scheduled me for an induction the next day. I was SO relieved that my body went into labor naturally when baby was ready and I did not have to be induced! I told the midwife and nurses that I wanted to see how long I could make it on my own with breathing through the contractions and no drugs or epidural. The midwife said she would check back in on my progress in about 4-5 hours and to try and rest.

When 5am rolled around, things were getting intense but I was getting through it one contraction at a time. Twin made me a “Parker push playlist” and I had it playing softly in the background with our twinkle candles spread around. I could hear the baby’s heart beat coming from the monitor, mixing in with the music. I brought a birth comb to try out and I was squeezing it to get through each wave as they came. I was trying really hard not to resist the contractions, but to surrender to each one and completely relax my body and face so I was working with my body.

At 7am, a new nurse took over and I’m certain she was an angel that was sent to me. She was so much more than a nurse - she ended up being my birthing coach and her amazing energy was exactly what I needed. When she heard our plan to power through as natural as possible, she was so excited and kept telling me how incredible I was doing and she made me believe it :)

Around 10am, I had made it to 6cm and I remember hearing “you’re DOING this! Your body is making the change!” At this point I had been laboring at the hospital for 11 hours and was really starting to wonder how I was going to endure these contractions AND be able to push when it came time. I reached my breaking point pretty soon after that and I knew I needed to be able to rest before it was time to push. I asked for the epidural and the anesthesiologist was there in no time. I was hunched over with my arms wrapped around the nurse just sobbing in pain at this point! I felt some immediate relief and fell asleep for a few hours and Ben got to sleep too. I remember going in and out of rest and looking at the minutes go by on the clock. By 2pm-ish the epidural was wearing off (the same thing that happened to me with Summer!) and I was feeling all that intense pain creeping back in.

The midwife came back to check in on us and had the best news… my water had broken on it’s own while I was resting and it was go time! I could NOT believe it… we were about to meet our baby! And find out if it was a boy or girl?! This labor had been so intense but so beautiful all at once. I ended up pushing for quite a while still (I believe somewhere around 1.5 hours) and then suddenly all at once… baby was born!

… and it was a BOY! It’s crazy how we just KNEW it would be a boy those last few days. Ben was born 8 days late and weighed 10.11 (!) so we had a feeling this one was following in his footsteps just like dada.

Parker William was here… <3

He was the sweetest little angel boy from the first instant. The most beautiful chunky boy weighing over 9 pounds. It was so cute to hear every nurse over and over say “oh wow, you’re so big!”

We spent the magical first few hours together soaking him in and then got moved to a recovery room. Just three hours after he was born, big sister Summer was knocking on the door with Meg! My legs were still numb from the epidural and it was just crazy… all the feelings and emotions that were swirling around us. When I saw her, I absolutely lost it with happy tears (sobs) This was the moment I’d pictured for so long and here we were living it… as a family of 4.