When We Found Out
I love sharing how God works in my and Dustin’s lives. It brings me so so so much joy to put pieces together that the Lord has been working on and witness His hand working. With both Grayson and Hazel, the Lord worked the timing of those pregnancies insanely perfect to mold around my wedding schedule. Divinely perfect I would say. And Evelyn was no different. We didn’t know for sure that we even wanted a third baby. Hazel was a tough challenge (especially in the sleep department) and we were just tired. Could we even do this again??? We asked regularly in the first 18 months of Hazel’s life. But the fact that we kept asking that question meant that we were bound to have a third. If we were done, we would know it. We would feel it in our bones. So in the back of my mind, it wasn’t if we were going to have another, it was when we were going to have another.
It took us 1 try to get pregnant with Grayson. It took us 11 months to get pregnant with Hazel. The two of them are 2 years and 5 months apart, but to take it even a step further, they are 2 years, 4 months, and 24 days apart. Remember that as I go on.
We were mentally ready to start trying to Evelyn at the end of 2020. Of course I couldn’t be giving birth in September or October with my crazy schedule, so we decided to wait a couple more months so that my due date would fall in the November or later time frame of 2021. Keeping in mind that we had no idea how long it would take us to get pregnant with such a dramatic difference between Hazel and Grayson. When we officially started trying, my due date was going to be the end of November, which meant I would be having to sacrifice 4 of my already booked weddings. How that would play out would be me presenting those couples with three options: 1) allowing them to get a full refund and find someone else on their own doing, 2) allowing me to find them someone else and me paying that someone else to take over, or 3) using an associate photographer of mine where I would still edit and do all the pre and post processing but my associate would actually shoot the wedding for me. I’ve literally never had to do this in my career so I have no idea what they would choose but preparing for the worst, I was going to have to be refunding thousands of dollars right before I was giving birth. That month we started trying, I got a UTI almost immediately. I get these frequently, so it was no surprise, but my OBGYN recommended us not trying the rest of the month while I was on antibiotics. So we didn’t. The next month, I got pregnant and my due date was 12/21. That meant that I didn’t have to cancel any weddings or refund any money! PRAISE JESUS! That is single-handedly the most stressful part of getting pregnant while you’re in the wedding industry!
Catching COVID
In 2021, I photographed 39 large weddings. Large weddings meaning 8+ hour days with more than 100 guests in attendance. In 2020 I ended up photographing 21 large weddings (after all the postponements). After our community opened back up in 2020, we have been living our life. We’ve done mother’s day out and preschool and zoo trips and aquarium trips and plane rides and restaurant outings and children’s museums and all. the. things. We’ve worn our masks when we were asked but if it wasn’t required, we probably didn’t. We sanitized when we needed to but not like we did in the beginning of the pandemic. For two years, we avoided catching COVID some way, somehow. I had a really hectic fall with lots and lots and lots of big weddings and given that I was SO pregnant, I started wearing my mask at events again. I didn’t wear it outside where I could socially distance but any time I was inside, I wore it.
In October, we had a trip to Miami with Dustin’s family. We were in big crowds a lot. We went to restaurants a lot. We ate in buffet lines a lot. We were on an airplane, public transportation, and in a spa. When we got down there, both of us started experiencing major allergy symptoms. Lots of coughing, lots of snot, lots of sneezing and watery eyes. We were only there for 4 days and these symptoms started on day 2. When we returned to Knoxville, Dustin’s symptoms cleared up right away and mine got significantly better and I received a negative COVID test. Throughout the rest of October and into November, my cough never went away. My congestion came and went every few days and the kids were sick about every other week. I got a really high fever and chills in November and again, received a negative COVID test. Same thing at the beginning of December. The week before my December 5th wedding, I got the fever again, chills again, all the head stuff that never really went away, tested negative again. The week of Dec 13th, my congestion had started clearing up, my cough got a little bit better (no never fully gone) and on December 16th, the cough came back with a vengeance. I didn’t think much of it since it had been coming and going for literally weeks and that evening I was hosting my annual AMP dinner to thank all of my team for helping me for the year. I was busy that day and was 39 1/2 weeks pregnant. We had some cleaners come clean our house that morning, the kids went to school so they weren’t there to mess it up again, and I picked up catering that I had ordered for my party that night. We set up the house to seat 16 people for dinner and decorated with Christmas decor. People started arriving at 5pm. The entire time they were here, I held a thick napkin in my hand and coughed into it. I was very intentional about not shaking people’s hands (although I couldn’t resist hugging all my girls!), and being gigantic pregnant, I was using the bathroom a lot and washing my hands for 20 seconds every time. Any time I got up from the table I sanitized my hands as well. That night at around 8:30 pm, I felt my legs start shaking and my energy level drop. I started feeling a fever coming on and when the last guest left at 9pm, I immediately went to take my temperature. I thought I had just overdone it. My body was TIRED from being SO pregnant and when I should be spending the day with my feet up, I was running around like a crazy person preparing for a party at my house. My temperature was 104.5 in one ear and 105.0 in the other ear. I got into a cold shower and took tylenol to try to get my body temperature back down. The sudden shift in temperature must have really messed me up because I spent the next 10 minutes throwing up every ounce of food that I had eaten that day. Scared that I was hurting the baby, I told Dustin to call my OB asap. The doctor on call just told me to go get tested for COVID and the Flu. Given that it was nearly 10 pm at this point, the only spot open for doing that was the ER which he recommended to avoid at all costs since they were eaten up with COVID and Flu patients. To just try to make it through the night and go first thing in the morning. So that’s what I did. I ran high temperatures all night, slept in a puddle of sweat when they broke, and headed to the urgent care by our house at 8 am as soon as it opened. I had been there 4 times in the last 2 months.. these people knew me by name. Each time I had sat in that room pleading with God for it not to be COVID or the Flu. This time was no different. I sat there with my eyes closed praying. Please don’t let this be covid, please don’t let this be covid, please don’t let this be covid. Unlike the last 4 visits with negative results, this time, the nurse walked in and said… well… you don’t have the flu. but… and with the most sad, empathetic look on her face, she said you’re positive for covid. I couldn’t hold back the tears. I immediately looked back at her and said WHAT IF I GO INTO LABOR???? All she could say was “I don’t know honey… you’ll have to talk to your OB”. Will they take the baby away from me if I deliver with covid?? “I don’t know honey… you’ll have to talk to your OB”. My mind was racing. As I walked back to the car, I started weeping. It was cold and raining, I was 39.5 weeks pregnant, I felt TERRIBLE, and now I had COVID. I exposed my two children who are too young for the vaccine. I exposed my sweet husband. I exposed my sister-n-law who watched our children during the dinner the night before. And then I realized I exposed every single person at that dinner. The tears came harder. I drove home pleading with God again. PLEASE don’t let my kids catch this. PLEASE don’t let the people at my dinner catch this. PLEASE let us have a mild case. Why LORD??? Why NOW??? Please don’t let me go into labor while I have this! But also, please don’t let me deliver on Christmas eve or Christmas! But I don’t want to be pregnant forever either… This prayer literally made no sense, I am completely aware of that ha! I can’t have it all the ways haha.
I was met on my front porch by the best husband in the world who is always cool, calm, and collected when I’m totally freaking out. I muffled under my mask as I buried my head in his chest What are we going to do??? And in his typical cool, calm, and collected fashion, he said “It will be fine sweetheart, it’s okay.” Grayson looked at me with the most concerned look on his face. He hates it when I cry and immediately starts trying to console me if he even sees a look of sadness on my face. Hazel greeted us in the door saying “mommy crying? mommy crying?” with her little squeaky voice and her hands out to the side as she shrugged and cocked her head to one side. They both clung to my legs in desperation for me to cheer up. Dustin started to take my mask off and I grabbed it really fast and said “NO! We have to protect you guys! I’ll wear a mask!” and he looked at me said “Babe… you don’t need to wear a mask in your own home. If you have it, we likely already have it, and we’ll just get over it together.” So we took my mask off.
We got to our room and sat down to call the OB. I had an induction scheduled for December 21st, something I had very begrudgingly scheduled in hopes of avoiding a Christmas Eve or Christmas day delivery. Another thing you should know in this, is that I had prayed throughout the entire pregnancy to go into labor naturally and to not have a Christmas Eve or Christmas baby. This is our third and final baby and I was induced with my other two babies. I really wanted the experience of going into labor naturally. But also, my due date was 12/21 and I was terrified of having a Christmas Eve or Christmas baby. Having to share a birthday with the Savior of the world and having to interrupt the traditions of our family’s because we selfishly had a baby on Christmas Eve or Christmas was so not what I wanted for sweet Evelyn. Not to mention the on-call doctor we would be pulling away from their family on the holiday. So when I decided to schedule an induction, I almost felt like I wasn’t trusting God. I had been praying a prayer this entire time and instead of trusting Him with that prayer, I made a safety net of scheduling an induction just to make sure that I wouldn’t have a Christmas baby. Even though throughout my pregnancy, I really did feel peace over the fact that I wasn’t going to have a Christmas baby. I just didn’t trust my intuition and I didn’t trust my prayer (as hard as that is to admit because it means that I didn’t trust God which leaves me feeling guilty and a little ashamed).
I continued praying to go into labor naturally, but when I got diagnosed with COVID, my OB canceled my induction. If you go into labor on your own, come straight to the hospital, covid or not… but we aren’t going to induce you while you have covid was their exact response. I get it. Unnecessary exposure to expecting mamas and freshly born babes. I don’t want to do that to them either, however, now… now I had no choice but to trust the Lord with my prayer. PLEASE don’t let me have a Christmas baby.
Going into Labor
On December 17th morning was when I got diagnosed with COVID. Dustin and the kids were showing zero symptoms then. I talked to my OB, sat on the couch to calm down, stop the tears, and just relax when I started composing a text message to all the girls that were at my dinner party the night before. This was quite possibly the hardest text I’ve ever sent. Exposing them meant that they were likely going to have to quarantine through Christmas. Which meant they couldn’t spend it with their families. It also meant that I not only exposed them, but their spouses and children. Thankfully, all the children were out of school for Christmas break so I wasn’t exposing mass quantities of other children, but still… I felt like the worst friend, boss, human, ever. I wrote and rewrote that text a dozen times. Asking Dustin for his opinion on the phrasing. They are going to hate me. They are never going to want to come to the dinner again. I can’t believe I ruined Christmas for them. Those were just a few of the thoughts running through my head when I pressed send with tears streaming down my face. These women who I love and adore and were so thankful they came to my home for me to celebrate them had also just been exposed to one of the scariest illnesses going around right now at quite possibly the worst time of the year.
As the day went on, Dustin started to have a cough. The cough was getting worse and worse. Hazel started running a fever and Grayson also started coughing. By the end of the day, Dustin was on the couch with a fever and chills. Yup. He’s definitely got it. We put the kids to bed with medicine and went to bed at 7:30pm that night. I woke up intermittently throughout the night with contractions, fevers, and stomach aches. Every time I woke up to a contraction, I would pray… please not now God. I made it through the night of the 17th and on the morning of the 18th, Dustin and I were full-blown COVID tired, vegged out on the couch watching TV with the kids ALL day. THankfully the kid’s symptoms didn’t get any worse, but we were fighting fevers all. day. long. Really high fevers too and body aches and chills and all the congestion and coughing and sneezing. In case you’re wondering, these symptoms while also being massively pregnant SUCKS ha. At 7pm that night, my fever broke while Dustin headed to the bathroom and started throwing up. He would go on to throw up about every 20 minutes until 11pm. He rarely left our room but in an effort to try to help me put the kids to sleep, he came upstairs in a robe. I took one look at him and told him to go get into bed. His face was literally green… like in a cartoon. He was frail and weak and looked terrible. On the inside I was freaking out. What if my water broke right now??? There is no WAY he couldn’t take me to the hospital. Lord, PLEASE don’t let me go into labor right now. PLEASE. Look at him… I need my husband there. I need him at the hospital with me. PLEASE. I finished bedtime and went downstairs to help Dustin. I got a cold cloth for his forehead, gave him a dose of Dramamine because that was the only thing even relatively close to an anti-nausea medicine that we had. I got him Pedialyte and ice chips and sat beside him praying the Lord would stop the throwing up. Finally at 11pm, he fell asleep and didn’t wake back up. Thank you Jesus.
At 1 am, I woke up to a contraction. It was bad. I fell back asleep and at 1:30 had another. Then 1:45. Then 1:55. At 2, it got so bad, I had to stand up and start walking around just to get through them. I started my timer. 2:20am Dustin says you okay babe? is this it?? I tell him that I have been timing them since 2 and that they are less than 5 minutes apart and are lasting right at about 1 minute. Let me wait until 2:30 and make sure… Two more came and gone and I told Dustin to call Devin (his sister n law). The person who was supposed to be on call during this pregnancy was my mom. But we have COVID. Devin had been exposed already by watching the kids the night of my party and had started having cold symptoms. We assumed she was positive too. Thankfully she works from home and hadn’t exposed anyone else at that point. She answered and hurried over. At 2:45, we heard Grayson come out of his room and run to the bathroom. oh no. Grayson started throwing up. Dustin, still so fragile, had gotten dressed for the hospital and went upstairs to care for Grayson. I started getting our last minute things together (our go bag and the car seat were already in the car) like our phone chargers and my camera and a blanket and our rain jackets because it also had to be raining right then. Dustin put gray back to bed and 5 minutes later he threw up again… this time in bed. Dustin pulled all the blankets off the bed and made a little pallet on our couch as we waited for Dev to arrive. She got there and we headed straight out to the car. Why did I want to experience going into labor naturally again?? This is terrible. So painful. So freaking painful. This is for the birds.
We called the OB as we headed to the hospital. We entered through the ER and were wheeled up to the labor and delivery wing. We left most everything but Evelyn’s bag and my purse in the car thinking there would be time to go back and get it all once it was morning. They didn’t even let me wheel down the hallway before ushering me into the first room on the right, which was a zero pressure room. If you don’t know, a zero pressure room doesn’t circulate air outside of that room. No air from our room was getting into any other room and therefor not spreading any covid germs. Any time that anyone entered our room, they had to put an N95 mask under a normal mask, put a gown over their clothes, put fresh gloves on, and some of them wore face masks and double gloved as well. It was a whole thing to come into our room. As soon as we got in there, I looked at the nurse checking me in and said “Dustin has been throwing up all night, if there’s any way we could also get an IV of fluid for him too, that would be wonderful”. She basically scoffed at me… super sweet girl… but apparently this was a hard no 😂.
When I checked in, I was 3/4 cms dilated and 50% effaced. At 4am, they started me on fluids and changed me into a gown and we waited. I tried to fall asleep but the contractions were REAL and getting worse with every passing hour. Thankfully Dustin was able to fall asleep and got a little rest before the anesthesiologist came in at 5am and I got my epidural placed… Thank Jesus. It worked great at first but over the next couple hours, I began filling them more and more. Dustin fell back asleep and I was quietly enduring each contraction in hopes that he would keep sleeping. The doctor there that day was Dr. Brabson and he arrived at 8am. They came in and checked me and I was about 6/7 cm and 100% effaced and now I was full on feeling the contractions like I had no epidural in. The anesthesiologist came back and fixed it and I was able to relax for about 45 minutes before the doctor came in at 10am and said they were going to start setting up the room for delivery. A few minutes later I pushed three times and boom… sweet baby Evelyn was born at 10:30am on December 19th.
She was healthy. 8 pounds 14 ounces and 21 inches long. I chose to get the Pfiser vaccine while I was pregnant and she was fine. I got COVID while I was pregnant and she was fine. I delivered a baby while being positive with COVID and we were fine. My husband had been throwing up constantly the night I went into labor and we were fine. I went into labor on my own and I did not have a Christmas Eve or Christmas baby. The Lord may not have answered my prayers the way I wanted Him to but overall, He was provided for us in such a gracious way and we were all doing good.
Back at home, Devin updated us on Grayson and Hazel. Gray couldn’t keep anything down and was throwing up every hour or so. Hazel still had her fever but as long as she kept meds in her system, she was acting fine. They were watching more TV than they have ever watched before but they were loving it and it was totally fine. Devin’s symptoms weren’t getting any worse and thank heavens she wasn’t throwing up or having nausea.
As the craziness started to settle in the hospital room, they told us that they were going to swab Evelyn with a COVID test at 24 hours and 48 hours, so I would be there for at least two nights. Also, we found out that Dustin was never technically allowed to come to the hospital with me in the first place because he was showing COVID symptoms. But we hadn’t confirmed that he was officially positive with a test yet because of the craziness of going into labor, and since he was already there in the zero pressure room, they so graciously and kindly said he could stay. But if he left our room he couldn’t come back. Which meant, if he left our room to go get our bags out of the car, he couldn’t come back. We were also looking into the antibody treatment for both us when I got diagnosed on Friday but were unable to find one available on the weekends. I missed my open window for getting it but since Dustin’s symptoms started a day later than mine, he could still do it. But he had to have a positive COVID test first which meant he would need to leave the room to get that in enough time to then schedule the antibody treatment within the window. So we started brainstorming. My mom said she would bring us our bags, which basically meant she had to come to the hospital, come up to labor and delivery, get our key from the nurses station, drive around to the ER parking lot, get all of our bags out, drive back around to the L&D entrance and bring our bags and the key back up to the nurses station. She was going to peak into our room and catch a glimpse of evelyn from the door, but the crazy nurse at the station literally wouldn’t even let her through the initial double doors. Sorry mom! Then she was going to come back tomorrow, deck out in all the protective gear, and stay the night with me in the hospital while Dustin went home to relieve Devin (and let her work so she didn’t have to take a vacation day) and sanitize our room for me to come home with our newborn baby not into a COVID germ-infested area. Dustin would swing by an urgent care and get his covid test on his way home and hopefully would be getting antibody treatments the next day.
All went smoothly and according to plan until Dustin got to the urgent care and they gave him a FIVE HOUR WAIT TIME. What???!?!?! People sit there and wait for FIVE HOURS?! That’s crazy. Thankfully, we live within walking distance of this urgent care and he just went home and waited his 5 hours there. He got to work sanitizing our room. Washing all the sheets and pillow and spraying everything with Lysol. Wiping every surface with clorox wipes. He put hand sanitizer and fresh masks on my night stand, put the baby bed beside my side of the bed and shut the door. While he was doing all of that, the pediatrician at the hospital came into the room with us and said that we were going to let us go home that day if I wanted and I could take Evelyn to her pediatrician’s office for her 48 hour COVID test. Well yeah… that would be great! So they started our discharge paper work while I apologized to mom for making her come all the way down to the hospital, expose her to COVID, and pack an overnight bag and everything just to go right back home. And now she had to not only load all of her stuff back up, but all of our stuff too. She was super understanding and cuddled Evelyn for an hour while I took a nap before we got discharged.
Week One with a Newborn and COVID and Christmas
When mom dropped us off at home, she stayed outside and away from Grayson and Hazel. I took Evelyn inside and went straight to our bedroom. I had been wearing a mask since we arrived to the hospital on the night of December 18th. I had changed masks, but still wearing a mask. The only time taking it off was when I ate. I continued wearing my mask. When I ate, I would step out of our room, eat, hug grayson and hazel, and change clothes as soon as I got back into our room so I didn’t carry any of the germs in from the kids. Was it overboard? Probably, but as far as we know, Evelyn never caught COVID from us. I stayed in our room, night and day, taking care of Evelyn. I wore a mask 24/7, even sleeping in one. Dustin slept on the couch and stayed in the rest of the house taking care of Grayson and Hazel. Emotionally, this was torture. All I wanted to do was cuddle with my husband. I wanted to hug my big kids and watch them love on their new little sister. I wanted to read books to them and play make believe with them. I wanted to go on walks and flip through baby books with them. Bringing Hazel home was SO dreamy. Grayson met us in the driveway with a chalk drawn welcome letter and pulled our fingers into the house while he gave Hazel a tour and showed her his toys. I have a 10 minute video on my phone of this adorable greeting and meet up between the two of them. It is, hands down, one of my favorite memories from my life. And this was so brutal. Not even letting them see her when they wanted to SO badly. Not only was this emotionally torcher, but I also had weird, random bursts of extreme stomach pain with throwing up. Throwing up right after you’ve given birth is TERRIBLE. Without elaborating too much, it puts a LOT of pressure down south and basically feels like you are going to rip open and all of your guts are just going to spill out onto the floor. Minutes before I threw up each time, I was crying out of extreme fear of ripping my wounds open and losing an organ. Very irrational looking back on it, but at the time, it was a very real fear.
On day 3, we gave in and let Grayson and Hazel stand at the door of our bedroom and see Evelyn from across the room for about 5 minutes. It was precious. And when we closed the door it ripped my heart out hearing Hazel cry for me. I just want mommy!!!!! I literally started weeping in our room. I was counting down the days… minutes… seconds to getting out of that stupid room. To not having to wear a mask 24/7. To kissing sweet Evelyn’s little chunky cheeks. We came home on December 20th and my quarantine wasn’t up until Dec 26th. Dustin’s wasn’t up until December 27th and the kids’ were December 28th. We had to do Christmas at our house with none of our other family and although we were supposed to be quarantining Evelyn until the 28th away from everyone, Evelyn and I shared a space in our living room with Dustin, Grayson and Hazel while we opened presents on Christmas morning. We made sure they were socially distanced and Dustin sanitized the living room before we came out. I took pictures of the kids opening their presents and it was adorable. Then we went back into hiding until the 28th.
We felt basically healed by the 28th. We were officially out of quarantine and we were all pretty much over our symptoms. There was a lingering cough but that is something that can take weeks to get rid of. One thing that was still concerning for me, however, was that my milk still hadn’t come in. We were supplementing Evelyn with formula, and thanks to my amazing friend and newborn photographer, I was doing ALL the things possible to boost my supply, but it was still not in. That day we took our first walk outside, and when we got back, I started feeling queezy. I took it easy over the afternoon but when I walked Grayson down to our neighbors house to deliver a little gift he made them, I overdid it, and started throwing up again when we got home. The next day was Evelyn’s 1 week appointment and I broke down in the room with her pediatrician as I described what our week had been like. That I was still having weird episodes of stomach pains and throwing up. That’s when she told me she thought that we had caught a stomach bug on top of COVID. That they really hadn’t seen much throwing up with this round of COVID surges and knowing that I was still dealing with it definitely made her think it was a bug. I was extra cautious with Evelyn, still not kissing her anywhere on her body, but we did not go back into hiding lol. On day 11 after giving birth, my milk FINALLY came in. It wasn’t like the other kids though where it came in all at one time and my boobs got super huge and hard… it was a gradual coming in and we still had to supplement until week 2/3 but it did come in and by mid-week on week 3, we didn’t need to supplement anymore! It was a journey.
In the midst of this total insanity, the Lord showed us so much favor. Yes, we had COVID. Yes, we got COVID for the first time during the most inopportune week during the entire two years since COVID has been a thing. Yes, we got a TERRIBLE stomach bug on top of COVID. But it’s always in the craziest, hardest times that you feel the Lord the most. And boy did I feel Him right there with me. I was talking to Him constantly. Crying to Him constantly. And thanking Him constantly because although Evelyn came into the world during a very chaotic time, she is the most chill, relaxed baby we’ve had so far. She sleeps AMAZING, she only cries when she’s tired, and she’s overall just so happy. She never caught COVID, how? I have NO idea. None of us ended up getting hospitalized from COVID, praise Jesus. We didn’t have to stay in the hospital for two nights. My mom never got COVID from us (even though she was in the hospital room with me and took me and Evelyn to all of her appointments during that first week). We had a dear friend start a meal train for us and we felt SO much love poured out on us from SO many people. We had meals coming to our house for weeks and got over $500 in grubhub gift cards. Which we have been able to use to bless others as well… one being another family with two littles and a pregnant mama with covid sweeping through their house. We sent them lunch and dinner one day using our grubhub money. I wouldn’t wish this situation on anyone, however, I am so thankful to have gotten to see such a beautiful glimpse of heaven has the Lord poured out his mercies on us during such a chaotic time.
There have been so many people asking me about Evelyn’s birth story and what it was like delivering with COVID and how we prevented Evelyn from getting it… so here we are. The whole story, uncensored, in its entirety. It’s pretty much a novel and if you’ve made it this far, I am pretty impressed. If you have any other questions for me about any of this, I am an open book. Just text me, clearly 😜.
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