We are happily enjoying our babymoon with Karsten, who is a week old. What with one thing and another, his birth announcement didn't get posted till several days after I wrote it, so he's already a more peaceful little guy than it first appeared. I think having lots of milk now is to thank for that!
Li'l sleeping dude.
With the proud mama.
He's beginning to open his eyes
and take in the world.
Today he made his first pre-cooing sounds,
and I just about died of cuteness.
With the happy dad.
Meeting the brothers (7 & 3) for the first time.
He's got a little too much face.
Our third son, Karsten
Born at home
October 20, 2014
3:23 a.m.
10 lbs, 6 oz
22.25 inches
After two weeks and a day of prodromal contractions, I awoke to what (finally!) seemed like real labor the early morning of October 19. The midwives came and went throughout the twenty-one hours of labor but left in the evening to get some sleep. In the middle of the night, my water broke as I was trying to grab some rest myself in between contractions. I hopped into the birth pool, and out Karsten came shortly thereafter, caught by his father.
Yes, we once again managed to call the midwife too late! Unplanned unassisted birth is now sort of our thing. I have to say, I kind of dig having the birth be unassisted and then having the midwife come in and sort out the postpartum situation.
As I was saying to Sam,
the first time we called the midwives too early.
The second time, we called them too late. This time, we split the difference and did both!
This baby is much more like his oldest brother than the peaceful middle child. For one thing, he's a big boy! He's not as big as Mikko, but he looks so similar with his chubby cheeks, full body, squinty eyes, wide nose, and head full of dark hair promising to faux-hawk — just like Mikko-lite. For another, he scorns sleep and prefers to cry most of the time he's awake, perplexing Alrik who cannot for the life of him figure out what's
wrong. My milk has come in and he's nursing like a champ, which is helping space out the wake-and-screams since his belly's full now.
Both siblings are fascinated by this little brother. Mikko is over the moon and keeps coming by to poke and yell at Karsten (in joy — it's just his brotherly way). Alrik is a little more circumspect since he doesn't know what to make of his baby sibling's emotiveness, but he thinks Karsten is adorable. The boys slept through the birth, with their aunt on hand to help out. It's probably for the best, because I know I dropped an f-bomb in the birth video!
This labor was really, really challenging (posterior baby, back labor, intensity to the nth power), though I'm glad it remained peaceful, at home, and at our baby's own pace. Hypnobabies kept me mostly calm and helped me limit my swearing to only once or twice…. Pushing him out, though, I kept having the thought, I'm glad this is our last one! Heh heh. It's ok — he's definitely worth it.
Thank you all for your prayers, thoughts, blessings, and good wishes! We felt them all.
When I'm not so sleep deprived and have use of two hands, I'll have to write the full birth story, but for now, here are a few more pictures of this sweetness.
We continue to be delighted with the inspiration and wisdom our Carnival of Natural Parenting participants share, and we hope you'll join us for the next carnival in November 2014! (Check out
September,
August,
July,
June,
May,
April,
March,
February,
January 2014, and summaries of all our
2013 posts,
2012 posts, and
2011 posts if you missed any.)
Your co-hosts are
Dionna at Code Name: Mama and
Lauren at Hobo Mama.
Here are the submission details for November 2014:
Theme: Indoor Fun: With wintry weather, how do you keep little ones amused without braving the elements? What toys, games, activities, and non-toy objects hold your kids attention best? How well do multiple siblings play together, and how can you foster that? Give us all your best busters of cabin fever!
Deadline:
Tuesday, November 4. Fill out the
webform (at the link or at the bottom) and email your submission to us by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time: CarNatPar {at} NaturalParentsNetwork.com
I've pre-written and scheduled posts for my babymoon as we enjoy the anticipation of our new little one. Responses may be sporadic during this time!
I recently took the boys to see
Rio 2 at the $3 theater, a movie about domesticated blue macaws who find a new home back in the rainforest. It was an enjoyable movie (and I wasn't too lost from not having seen the first one…), but as the film progressed, I was struck by the feeling:
I've seen this before.
Without spilling much of the plot, suffice it to say that there's an oppositional setup between the noble conservationists and the greedy developers who want to clear cut the Amazon rainforest. It's the classic
good vs. evil in children's-movie form.
I'm Lauren Wayne, writer and natural parent. I embrace attached parenting with an emphasis toward green living. 
