Derek Hough’s Wife Hayley ‘Didn’t Have the Option’ for an Epidural or Pain Management During ‘Unique’ Home Birth (Exclusive)

Hayley Hough makes a candid confession while sitting down with her husband Derek Hough during their PEOPLE cover shoot at home in Los Angeles with their newborn daughter Everley Capri on Jan. 13.

“You don’t know what sounds you can make until you have a child,” she says.

Both Hayley, 31, and Derek, 40, say their lives changed forever when they welcomed Everley on Dec. 29 in a planned home birth. Since she didn’t deliver in a hospital, Hayley says she “didn’t have the option of an epidural or any pain management.”

Still, Hayley says the experience was “really so special.”

“It was very unique,” she says. “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 second of it. It was perfect in every way.”

For his part, Derek says “it was wild” being able to watch his wife during the birthing experience.

“It was extraordinary and just unbelievably beautiful and powerful,” he says. “We were really fortunate that we were able to do it at home. We had candles everywhere, beautiful music playing. To be in the room during Hayley’s labor, holding her…She just became power. I was in awe the whole time. I was like, ‘Damn. Y’all women are badasses.’ Witnessing her labor was a life-altering perspective shift.”

Hayley — who married Derek in 2023 — notes that Everley’s birth is yet another major milestone to have occurred in their home.

“This home is really special because it’s our first home together,” she says. “Derek proposed literally in this living room. This is the home that we quarantined together in [during the COVID lockdown]. We got married here — not literally in this house, but in that chapter of life. And now we brought our baby girl into the world here. This house holds so much special energy, I’m like, ‘I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to move because we love it so much.'”

This period of joy with their daughter has been long-awaited for the two professional dancers after experiencing what Derek calls a “traumatizing” past three winters. First, in 2022, the couple were involved in a serious car accident that required Hayley to get four stitches in her forehead.

A year later Hayley was rushed to the hospital mid-performance on their Symphony of Dance tour and nearly lost her life after a burst blood vessel caused a brain bleed. She had to have about 40 percent of her skull removed to relieve the pressure and later a second surgery for a skull implant.

Around the same time the following year, Hayley miscarried.

“She’s been through so much,” Derek says of his wife, tears welling up in his eyes. “To see her go from where she was to now, giving birth, is amazing. My daughter has a great example here.”

With Everley’s birth, Derek says he and Hayley are also able to “rewrite the story of this time of year” so it’s defined not by their tragedies but by their blessings.

“We’ve had so many moments in life that are not as great,” Hayley says. “So she’s our rainbow after the storm.”

Adds Derek: “She’s literally this beautiful ray of light.”

For more on Derek and Hayley Hough and their baby Everley, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE on stands Friday.