You did WHAT???

Tony will now attempt to field some questions...

Yup. He was born in a tub. No, it was not in a hospital. Yes, things were just fine. Yes, he's been checked for illness by a certified physician. No, we're not hippies. You don't agree with it. So what, wanna fight?

I know this comes as a surprise to many, but little Link was born at the mercy of MY OWN TWO HANDS. OK, not really. But close. We had kept the details of our birth plans under wraps because we didn't want too many people to worry about complications in what we figured was what a birth could be like. Lincoln was not cut out of a woman pumped full of intraveinous needles and hooked up to monitors. Nor was he thrown into an incubator and rushed down the hall to who-knows-where like so many kids nowadays, but he had more of a homestyle birth. Haha! He was born in an actual HOME that was converted to a birth center only a few months ago. It was an incredible experience, and we'd recommend it to anyone. For details, ask Meg. I'm here to tell the quick and easy story. I've been instructed to keep it breif, so here goes:

We wanted our baby OUT of Meg, and in our arms. Recent history (Hadley and Lainey) has shown that Megan has a very comfortable womb. Our babies don't exit on their own accord. So on May 13 (Friday) Meg went into a prenatal appointment and asked the midwife to strip her membranes. Having heard how effective this can be in bringing about labor, we figured this was a sure bet to bring out a little one. It was. After a few hours of resting later that day Megan began to have some serious contractions. By one in the AM, we knew this was for real. We called the midwife who instructed us to continue resting, as the contractions were still a bit too far apart. And in this writers' opinion, probably too early in the morning for a midwife to be working. By 3:30 there was no denying the signs. We had a baby on the way. Well, it must have been still too early, because we were instructed to show up at the clinic by 5:00, and I was afraid that was too much time. Our babies don't come easily, but they do arrive swiftly (see Hadley and Lainey).

By five in the morning we were in the parking lot of the clinic and ready to rock. I will forgo some details of the checks, medical equipment and rubber gloves (Yes, midwives use gloves. No, the gloves are not made by hippies. Just listen!) and we discovered that Meg was close to having a baby! Surprise! Well, she entered the tub which momentarily stalled the contractions. But that was fine with us. We just chatted together and enjoyed our time alone. One of the neat things is the amount of time we had alone together. Unless they needed to check the baby, the midwives just let us have the experience to ourselves. They were always a couple of rooms down if they were needed. Meg described the last 40 minutes of labor as the most painful of her life, but true to form, only the last three minutes were Lincoln being pushed out. Quick, right? We had told the midwives not to spoil the gender mystery for us, and they didn't. Our baby was placed on Meg's chest directly from the womb, and after some serious tears (yeah, Meg cried too), I told Meg to check the legs, and all the stuff in between. Yeah!!! We have a BOY!!! We could not believe it! I had had dreams in the night, and Meg had her hopes, but we went into this with a sense of practicality. We're all so happy he's here. Hadley especially. She had wanted a little brother all along. Lainey? Well, she'll get used to him. But she's getting quickly attatched. So that's the story of Link, minus the bells and whistles. Now excuse me while I go burn some incense in honor of my little man. Cause that's what us hippies do.