Look who's here!

Timothe Joel Allen

Born 4/23/10, 3:23pm — at our home!

19.5", 7.1 pounds

It was quite a day!

Valerie passed me word, at work, that Rachael and Kermit had gone to the hospital. So I let my boss know that I'd be leaving shortly, and headed out.

About ten minutes after I'd gotten home, Rachael and Kermit made a surprise arrival. They'd gone to the hospital, had all mom's and baby's vitals checked, learned that Rachael was (at least) fully effaced and 3 centimeters dilated. Then they were given a choice, since the hospital was pretty full: they could stay, or they could begin labor at home and return when matters had well progressed.

So, they were asking, would it be okay if they stayed at our house, which is about five minutes from the hospital?

Would it!

We all happily flew into action, cleaning and changing and moving and arranging, and the Allens took over the master bedroom and bathroom, with the nice big bath tub. And then we all just let them be. They knew what they were doing, they'd ask for help if they needed it.

Kermit popped out a time or two, resulting in me dashing off to do this (lock the car, fetch the bags) and that (emergency Sprite run).

Five hours later, Valerie and I had been going back and forth, and were just about at the point of suggesting that they should consider going to the hospital to help them move the labor along before they wore out — and out runs Kermit. "He's here! He's here!"

The lusty little first cries led us back to mom and baby. They'd just been doing what they had learned and decided to do, then Rachael gave two pushes, and boom! Baby!

Rachael (and Valerie) had preferred the idea of a home birth, but Kermit (and I) liked the security of the medical staff at hand. Everybody was happy: she'd gotten checked, then honored our home by giving birth in it, then an ambulance took her to a nearby hospital for followup.

When we left them last night, Mom and baby (and Dad) were doing great, and their grandparents are grateful to God and very happy for them.