On Tuesday February 8, 2011, at 3:55 AM, Kornelius Aaron Sneed was born at our home in McKinney, Texas. Our daughter Karisma was also born at home, but this time we planned to have a home birth.  We had been a bit nervous because an ice and snow storm had stranded us in our home for several days beforehand, and a snow storm was forecast to hit town Tuesday evening.  We needed for the midwife to be able to get to us, which might not have been possible had a snow storm made the roads impassable.  (Here in Dallas they generally don’t plough the roads after it snows, because it usually only happens once or twice each year and often melts within a day.)  My wife Zuzana spent Monday decorating our guest room and we went out for a date night that evening.  Soon after that she started having contractions.  I went to sleep about 10 pm, and she labored on her own, careful to stay in another room so she wouldn’t wake me up.  I wouldn’t have minded waking up, of course, but she wanted to be considerate of me because I had come down with a bad cold.  Well, about 3 am Tuesday morning I did wake up because she had gone into the bathroom off our bedroom to take a shower.  It turned out it wasn’t long before she was going to have the baby!  We called the midwife and explained what was happening.  I was groggy and not fully awake, but I gathered that Zuzana was fairly close to giving birth and asked the midwife to come over as quickly as possible.  Just at that moment, Zuzana exclaimed that she felt the urge to push. I lit some candles (don’t ask me why, Zuzana just asked me to do it), filled the bathtub partially with some water, and guided the midwife as she drove to our home.

It was about a 20 minute drive normally, but there is some construction going on the main highway near our house, and the midwife had a hard time navigating around it.  I went out to the garage to open it and turned on the light as a signal for her to find our house.  I thought to myself, “Here we go again!”  The midwife arrived in time to catch the baby, and once Kory arrived, she took care of everything, caring both for Zuzana and the baby.  I snapped the above picture of Kory.  This is the first time we planned to have a home birth and I’m so very glad we did.  The Allen Birthing Center was extremely professional and supportive, and the experience was so much more “homey” than a hospital birth. The midlife, Leslie, and her assistant did an outstanding job. Both Mom and baby are healthy and happy (and Daddy too!).