The Malcolm Family

Grant Avery Malcolm was born today, April 16, 2008 at 10:54 am. He came in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces and was 21" long.

After the great experience we had with Andrea, we decided to do another all natural birth with no drugs and no interventions. This time, we did the birth at home. Many people are under the impression that this is more difficult than a regular hospital birth, but I would have to disagree. If you would like to know more about natural childbirth, I highly recommend you look into The Bradley Method.

First of all, I would like to thank our birth team for the amazing job that they did. Here is everyone pictured, below....
(From left to right...Andy (holding Grant), Renee, Andrea, Melody Morrow, Joni Gingles, Vanessa Giron, and Lydia Yoder)

The adventure began this morning at 5:50 am. Instead of easing on into the labor process, Grant decided he was ready to get this thing going and head on out. Right from the beginning, Renee's contractions were 3 to 5 minutes apart and lasted 40 to 50 seconds. We called our midwife (Melody Morrow) and let her know that we are probably starting this thing for real. Boy, we were right about that!

Renee's contractions continued, the only difference was the intensity of them. They were averaging 3 minutes apart and lasting 45 seconds, but they were getting harder and harder.

At 7:30 am, I called the midwife back and told her to go ahead and come on over...this baby's coming. In the meantime, Renee and I kept working through the contractions. Andrea actually slept later than she normally does, as she didn't wake up until 8:00 am. Andrea was in a good mood when she woke up and didn't seem to think much of her mom having these contractions. This was a real relief.

Andrea just carried on like everything was normal.

At 9:00 am, Renee's water broke. This is when it started getting REALLY intense! Luckily, the Midwife arrived shortly after that, and she was bringing the baby sitter to watch Andrea for us. It was really excellent timing...all things considered.

Renee continued to have very hard contractions, and the birth team was there giving us all kinds of excellent support. The Midwife was using counter pressure on Renee's hips & pelvis and this helped out immensely.

We tried several different things during labor, including using the tub, standing up, on hands & knees, lying down, etc. Renee liked standing up and rocking the best.

Somewhere around 10:30 am, Renee had already gone through transition and was in the pushing stage. We got on the bed and Renee started pushing. After several rounds of pushing, Grant was born 6 minutes before 11 am.

Despite the fact that it was a hard and fast labor, Renee came out like a champ and both of us had a wonderful birth experience. Almost immediately after the birth, Trinity (who was watching Andrea) brought Andrea in and she bonded with Grant almost instantly.

Here's a picture of Trinity, Andrea, Andy, Grant and Renee...

Here is Renee and Grant...

Even Andrea got to hold Grant...

And here is the whole family...

Grant checked out to be completely healthy and Renee is doing great. Our birth team left around 2:00 pm. We would like to thank everyone for keeping us in their prayers. The whole birth experience was even better than we imagined it would be.