Derek & Hayley Hough Introduce Baby Everley After Near-Fatal Health Scare | PEOPL

We have a kid. We have a baby. We have a child. We have a little girl. We have a little baby girl. It's wild. It's wild. These first two weeks of being parents, I mean, where do you even begin? It's crazy to even say that it's been two weeks already because it feels like it's been just like a few days. I'm like, what? It's been two weeks? And already so many different changes happening, you know? So many. She's changing every day. She's gaining weight. You're like, wait, she's getting bigger. She's heavier. Wait, she's stronger. She can hold her head up. And it's happened so fast. You know, people always say that. They say, hey, it goes by so fast. And it's only going to continue to get faster and faster. But even for us, we've experienced that already. And I think Haley said this the other day. She's like, I'm already mourning each of the stages. And they haven't even happened yet. And I already find myself like grieving this current stage. And I'm like, oh, I'm going to miss it so much. Like even just two weeks ago, like he said, she's changed so much. And so I'm like, I'm so sad that I'm never going to have that part of her ever again. That phase. It actually breaks my heart. I'm like, I'm also postpartum, hormonal, crazy, emotional. So I'm like. I don't know. You've been more than me, actually. She has been really remarkable, just powerful and strong and tender. And I said this to my family. I said Haley was meant for this. She is such a good mom. She's such a natural mother. And to see that, to watch it. For me, there's so many times where I'm just like quietly looking at her and tearing up. This is amazing. It really is. You're amazing. You are. As some of you may know, in December, at the beginning of December, I had an emergency craniectomy. And then a couple weeks later, had a cranioplasty. And here I am today. One of the very first things Haley said when she came to after her surgery. You know, she's missing half her skull. Her face is swollen. You know, barely knows where she is, what's going on. But one of the first things that she said when she came to was, am I going to be able to have children? And that was the first thing she thought about with her surgery. It was not, you know, am I able to dance again? Am I able to do this? It was just, am I able to have children in the future? And the doctor was like, yes, of course. I was in so much pain, I couldn't even sneeze. It hurt. So I couldn't even think about childbirth. But like to have the faith and to just keep moving through life and know that it will always unfold the way it's supposed to. And I'm just glad that we're here and we trusted and we surrendered and now we have a beautiful baby girl. It's a poppin'. We didn't share publicly until I believe we were 20 weeks pregnant or like almost 20 weeks pregnant because we were so scared to share. Because we were like, what if it doesn't come to full term? What if this happens? What if that happens? There weren't a whole lot of symptoms at the beginning. And so I actually got really scared that I was like, oh, something happened. Because I'm feeling so good, obviously something's wrong. And it really freaked us out. And so we decided not to share for a while just because we were like, just in case. We really want to make sure that like we aren't having to share and then be like, okay, never mind. So there was always that fear in the back of your mind. And also like when we were on our adventures, we tried to just live life to the fullest this year still. And we were like, because this is the last year of just the two of us. But in those moments, like we're always like, every single time we got back from a trip, we went to a scan because we just wanted to make sure everything was still okay. So there was always that fear in the back of your mind, for sure. I've never seen more rainbows in L.A. than like right before our rainbow babies being born. I mean, it was at a baby shower. Our baby shower. It was right at the end. We were there and it just rainbow just like, it just all sort of just rained out of nowhere and then it went away. And then we like look across the way and there's just a rainbow there. Of course, we start crying. We're like, oh my gosh, just a mess. It's just a little message, you know. Then on Christmas Day, all of a sudden we look over and we're like, the biggest rainbow is in our backyard. Double rainbow, too. Double rainbow. And we were like, what the heck? And then, of course, she's two days old, maybe three days old. We look outside and there's just a beautiful rainbow again. And I'm like, so many messages that we were so grateful for. I was trying to get in like her middle name being Rain or middle name being Bo or something. She is literally like just this beautiful ray of light, you know, this colorful light that's, you know, coming into our lives. Coming after the storm. Like we've had so many, so many moments in life that are not as great. And so she's, yeah, she's our rainbow after the storm. We had a unique birth because we actually did it at home. So we had a home birth and it was really so special. It really was. On the flip side, I didn't have the option of like an epidural or any pain management. So that was very unique. And did I ever expect it to be the way that it was? Absolutely not. But it was so empowering and beautiful. And it's how our beautiful baby girl came into this world. I would not change a single minute of it, a single second of it. It was perfect in every way. I recall it differently than he did because I was like I was in the zone, whereas he remembers all the details, everything. And so I'm like I was just focused. And he's like, oh, it was wild. It was extraordinary and just beautiful and powerful. And again, we're really fortunate that we were able to do it at home and just, you know, candles everywhere and beautiful music playing. It's in this really beautiful environment. It just felt like this really just ancient ritual that was happening that we were a part of, you know. And I was just like, yeah, it was awesome. The emotions that you're doing. Well, because I'm there. I'm like holding you and I'm, you know. You were very hands on in the process. We're there and it was just powerful. It was so extraordinary. And she came out, eyes wide open. Abigail and just like, hi. Oh, it was amazing. It's wild because I feel like this is the only thing in life where you have an identity shift in an instant. The second she was here, I was like, oh, my gosh, this is my baby. I'm a mom now. And I've prepared like the whole the whole pregnancy, pretty much the whole almost 10 months because she came 11 days late. She was a late baby. So I felt like I was prepared for it until it actually happened. And I was like, oh, my gosh. So I wouldn't say I stepped into it like effortlessly or anything because I was like, oh, my gosh, what do I do? I don't know. But it is really beautiful how like the instincts kick in. It was interesting, actually. I have to disagree with her. She was so natural, out of the gate and so instinctual and just confident. And there was actually a moment really early on where I was honestly, I was kind of afraid to hold her because she's so fragile and so little and delicate. Like, how do I, you know? And I remember holding her and I wasn't quite sure. And I kept kind of fidgeting, thinking I wasn't doing it right. And I got kind of, you know, overwhelmed, a little emotional and that feeling of like, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know. And I gave her back to Haley and I just kind of walked away. And it was like a moment where I felt like, I don't know if I'm ready for this, to take care of this little thing. But I had to reassure him. I was like, you're doing so good. You are such a good dad. We're all figuring this out. She's figuring out life. We're figuring out this new life. And so as I saw him getting emotional, I was like, know that you are amazing and you're doing so good. And we're all trying to figure this out right now. Everly was always on a list that I had. And I actually saw this post the other day that was like, it's crazy that I've seen your name in my notes app for so long and now you're here with me. And I was like, that's exactly what it's been. Her name has always had a little star by it. There were a few that we really liked. Capri was one of them. But we were like, I don't know if that's her first name. And honestly, she didn't have a name for four or five days. Yeah, almost a week. Because we were like, we're just going to keep staring at her and see what name calls to us. And Everly was always at the top of that. And then we kind of threw Capri in there with it. And we were like, oh my gosh, this is beautiful. But we actually, when we were thinking of the spelling, because there's so many different ways to spell it. And obviously, my name is Haley. And the way that I spell it isn't the most common way. And so we were like, I don't know. How do we spell this? And somebody actually said to us, look up the numerology of it. It would be really interesting, or the meaning of it, the way that they spell them differently. And Derek actually looked it all up. And it was really beautiful how we spelled it. It felt right. It just was a feeling. It was interesting. And Capri is kind of spicy. Yeah. Capri is like the little spicy part of her. So she's like, Everly is the sweet one. And Capri is the little, OK, all right. I don't know. It just felt right. Yeah. I call it my daily dad job, which is extra, where I go in the morning and I come home in the afternoon. But then the goal is to go back out on tour in June. And well, going on tour in June. That's actually happening. But Haley, Haley really wants to go out and dance and perform. And knowing her, she will. When she sets her mind to something, she does it. I have a feeling this tour is definitely going to happen. It's just a matter of whether my body agrees with me, because I've never given birth before. So we will see if my body is ready to do the whole show. Maybe I'm just in a number. Who knows? But yeah, we'll be out on the road. And Everly will be with us. I'm teaching my baby girl. I mean, you already said you wanted to teach her piano. How to play piano. I think anything like, even somebody said, are you going to put her in dance? I'm like, of course. Not necessarily that you have to be a dancer. But dancing is such a great way to learn about your body and coordination and confidence and community and socializing. Here's the thing, too. It can be quite overwhelming as well, because now with social media, our algorithm is just all parenting stuff. And do this. Don't do this. Do this. And it's like, whoa, wait. What do I do again? How do I? And the truth is, I think that there's a few things we'll take on and listen to. But really, it'll just be sort of instinctual. This feels right. This feels like the right thing. This feels right for us. Yeah. But at the end of the day, teaching her just about life and enjoying it and loving it and challenges and also teaching that resilience. Because Ms. Haley is the most resilient woman I know. She's been through so much. She has a great example here. Great example. Everything we've been through in the past, really our entire relationship has made us create this foundation that is so strong. So when we went through my brain surgery and all of the recovery process of all of that, we honestly felt like it didn't even shake us because we were so strong as a couple. Of course, we had so much to work through in life and emotionally, physically, all the things. But we felt so strong that we were like, we won't lose this. We can focus on everything else around us. And that was kind of the same thing when we had our miscarriage. We were like, we'll get through this together. And I mean, obviously, birth is such a beautiful thing. And so it's just constantly strengthening us. Derek always describes it as like a tree, how the roots are just going so deep into the ground and not a single ounce of wind could even shake us right now. But it's really beautiful. It's been beautiful to see him as, when I had my brain surgery, as a caretaker for me. He was really nurturing and really beautiful. And that was the side that I hadn't really seen of him to that extent. It was really amazing. And now seeing him as a dad, it literally, I mean, every time I see them together, I just start crying. We have this video that is insane. We were outside getting some fresh air. There's a rainbow like coming out of her head, essentially. Literally. And these birds fly by and I'm filming it and I'm just sobbing the entire time that I'm filming it. It's been really incredible to see him shift into this new role. He's such an incredible entertainer and artist and dancer and singer. And to see him step into the role of dad has been really, really special.