Won't you be my Number Two?

Dominic Reginald was born at 5:39pm on 8th August, our second son, second home birth, and the last child we plan to have. 9lbs, 21.5" long, 14" head circumference, ditto chest. All in all a very healthy baby boy. Here's his birth story from the Dad's perspective.


Our first child arrived a few days early on a snowy March night, so we were hoping we might get a repeat performance. Instead Dom arrived five days late, but 8/8 is a great birthday for a dual UK/US Citizen, as there will be no confusion when filling in forms.

Beth had been having a few isolated contractions in the last couple of days, but sent me off to work on Friday morning as usual, as there was nothing that required my immediate help. We both felt and hoped that this was the day, however.

Around 1:30pm I received an email at work from Beth, to say she was having repeated contractions so clearly things were now moving, had called the midwife, but not to hurry home just yet. A couple of emails back and forth, and a word from my boss (Go!), and I left around 1:45, getting home a little after 2pm. Beth was lying on her side, on her side of our bed, quietly working away, and calmly timing the contractions with an app on her tablet. I made sure the room was ready for the birth, called our friend Rachel to let her know she would need to collect Sophia from daycare, and sat quietly with Beth waiting for the midwife, who arrived around 3pm. From then on my job was to provide whatever support Beth needed while the midwife measured pulses and temperatures and recorded them, prepared the room for potential squirting blood and goo, and laid out the tools of their trade.

This is the only picture I'll show of Beth laboring, but I can tell you it's not a walk in the park. Fate had it that the hardest work occurred during the hottest part of a hot day in August, the hottest month of the year, and our bedroom is a heat trap with a long south wall catching a lot of sun. We had the air conditioning going of course, but the sweat on Beth's brow had little to do with the heat in the room. Beth tried various positions, but the contractions were so heavy that kneeling or squatting was causing her legs to shake, so she ended up on the bed for the birth.

Skipping the messy bit, here's Dominic, mostly cleaned up and wearing a hat that mostly refused to stay on his head. Beth's smile encompasses achievement, relief, pride and awesomeness.

At this stage Dom's umbilical cord is not cut. We waited over an hour, as we did with Sophia, to let all the cord blood get into the baby. We believe that makes more sense than letting it drip uselessly out elsewhere. Sophia had a short cord, about 18 inches, but Dom's was a more normal 22" or so.

This look is known as quiet alert. Despite being less than 2 hours in the outside world, Dom is looking around and listening carefully. The bowl in the background holds the placenta, of which more news later.

Midwife Lisa gives Dom a check over now he has had his umbilical chord cut, this time by Beth. I cut Sophia's, but I caught both babies! All looking good, a little extra fluid in his scrotum, but nothing that won't drain away in a few days.

Happy & proud Dad. Dom has his alert squished face on. His birth hair is black like Sophia's, but we suspect his final hair color will be light brown.

Big sister is allowed in now everything is settling down. Our friends Rachel and Tom did a great job, and us a great favor, collecting Sophia from daycare, bringing her home and keeping her happy and entertained despite the absence of mum, and only a brief visit from dad to get Sophia an ice cream. Here Sophia is showing more interest in water and iPods than Dominic, but then Dom doesn't play games and you can't press his button, yet.

Sophia hams it up for the camera. Sadly it's so dim in the room that the pic is a bit blurry, but too good a face to waste.

Nic is showing a liking for sucking his knuckle, if nothing milkier is to hand. We often hear the slurp slurp of a knucklesuck, which is the sign that it's time for a feed.

Quietly alert.

A couple of days later, we have a present from my parents for Dominic.

Feet. Sophia had huge feet when she was born, so that most newborn socks never fit her. We thought Dom's were smaller, but when I measured them against the ink print of Sophia's 6 day old feet they were the exact same length, and almost as wide (8cm long, 3 cm wide). We think they are less high at the arch, so they seem smaller.

Victoria is weighing Dom at his day 4 check up. He had apparently made up most of the weight he'd dropped by day 2, and the drop and regain seemed a bit more than usual, so we think Lisa's scales, used on day 2, might be weighing a couple of ounces light. They're going to check them against each other.

Contentment.