Where to begin…well, Nancy and I have known each other for a while – we went to school together for many years and more recently connected when we were both due in May of 2015 with our first babies. Fast forward to 2017 when I was pregnant with my second and asked Nancy to photograph his birth. Y’all, she missed it by FIFTEEN minutes – luckily her backup was close by and made it in time to capture Rory’s birth!

A few weeks later, Nancy found out that she was expecting their third baby! She got in touch about having me photograph her birth and of course I said HECK YES! I think we were both convinced that somehow I’d miss it since I lived 2 hours away, but we decided to try.

With their first two babies, Will & Nancy decided to find out if they had a daughter or son at birth! The welcomed two surprise baby girls after being *convinced* both were boys! This time around, they decided to find out baby’s sex and were again shocked to find out they’d be welcoming their third girl!

Nancy’s due date came and went (a first for her). A few days later, she texted me to say that she needed prayers because she was sick and Will had not one, but two strains of the flu! We were all praying that labor would hold off until everyone could get healthy, but baby had other plans. The next morning, Nancy woke up having contractions and decided to head to the birth center to get some IV fluids and hopefully stop labor.

Once there, she received the fluids and labor wasn’t stopping so she called Will. I’m honestly not quite sure how he got himself out of bed with the flu, but he did and he was there for Nancy – they were an amazing team! At one point, Nancy felt that she was just too weak to go through another unmedicated labor and was considering transferring to the hospital to get an epidural. Her midwife informed her that she could definitely do that, but Will couldn’t go with her since he had the flu – he wasn’t even allowed into the hospital! She immediately decided to stay, knowing she didn’t want to do any of it without him by her side.

Nancy texted me to head that way around 11am. I felt strongly that I needed to quickly get there so I hopped in the car and arrived at the birth center around 1:20pm. I could tell that Nancy was deep in labor and things were intensifying. The tub had just been filled and she couldn’t wait to get in.

Nancy, her mom, and Will were continuously praying for strength as she worked through each contraction. It was calm but you could feel the presence of the Lord in that room. (Fun side note: this is the exact room I labored in with Finn, four years ago!).

Nancy asked her mom to read a prayer from the back of the book Supernatural Childbirth. She’d used these prayers for both of her other labors and knew they’d bring her peace.

“Father, as I look forward to the delivery of my sweet baby, having enjoyed a blessed pregnancy of full duration, I thank you in advance for Your Word, Your blessings, Your peace, Your presence and Your diving intervention. I pray and confess that my body and my baby will cooperate with perfect, supernatural delivery, that there will be no problems of any kind…I have perfect peace and am relaxed. All fear must go and stay gone for I have God, who is perfect love and casts out fear. My body will not be tense but relaxed, at peace.”

Within literally one minute (as in 60 seconds), Nancy felt the urge to push!

Two pushes later and Baby Ray #3 was in her arms! Pure shock was on her face as she processed what had just happened. Everyone thought she had hours to go before baby arrived! She sat back down into the water and soaked in the beauty of her new sweet baby – Rosie.

The room was full of laughter as we all talked about how amazing and fast that had happened! Nancy had only been at the birth center for about 2 hours, Will had been there for 1 and I had only arrived 10 minutes ago!

After moving to the bed and birthing the placenta, Will was ready to cut baby’s cord. Nancy uncovered baby, looked down, and said, “WHAT IS THAT?! Is this a boy baby??!”

Will double checked and literally fell to his knees. Their third baby girl was actually a boy – their first son.

To be perfectly honest, I’m so happy that I had the soundness of mind to keep shooting and capture the above image (that went VIRAL earlier this year). We were all completely shocked (except the midwives, who’d noticed when he was born but kept the secret for Nancy and Will to discover). We all just laughed and laughed over the craziness of it all! I don’t think I’ll ever get over that day!

So, after a little discussion, Nancy and Will changed baby Rosie’s name to Beaufort (a name they’d chosen years ago).

Beaufort William Ray | 8lbs 5 oz | 20 inches

A couple hours later, Nancy & Will called their sister-in-law and asked her to bring the girls by. I’m so happy I could be there to capture their shocked faces! Milly (their oldest) had wanted a baby brother all along – she was SO excited!

*I want to take a minute to note that although they’d had their first two babies in a hospital, Will and Nancy felt that this time, they should look into the birth center option. If they had planned a hospital birth, Will would not have been able to be there. Let that sink in – he would NOT have been allowed into the hospital, Nancy would have labored ON HER OWN, and he wouldn’t have been there for the BIGGEST surprise of their lives. God is so good to have planned everything perfectly for this day to fall into place!

Sweet sweet Ray family, I’m so happy for you! Even though you were expecting a girl, baby Beaufort fits into your family just perfectly and it’s a joy to see you just as the Lord intended. I smile every time I think of this day, even six months later. Congratulations – your babies are so wonderful!

To read more birth stories, click HERE. To inquire about having me document the day you welcome your little one, click HERE.