The first midwife-assisted birth in Langley of the year happened at 7:25 a.m. on Jan. 1.
Langley parents Leah and Scott Carmichael welcomed a healthy baby boy named Arthur, weighing exactly nine pounds.
“He was due on Boxing Day, so he was nearly a week late. We weren’t expecting a New Year’s baby at all,” said Leah.
“He’s super content, relaxed, happy, sleeping, and feeding. We’ve had no problems.”
Arthur is a new sibling to his three-year-old brother George. Leah added that George is “very happy” about having a younger brother.
Leah and Scott moved to Langley City four years ago from Vancouver and plan to raise their children in Langley.
The home birth was assisted by midwives Jennica Rawstrom and Linda Park, and there were no complications.
Leah went into labour at 3 a.m. on New Year’s day, and within a few hours, Arthur was in her arms.
“It’s so natural and a civilized way of doing something. You’re in your home the whole time and they [midwives] come to you. I’m a huge advocate for the process,” added Leah.
The couples’ older son George was also born in the same Langley home with a different midwife.
According to Leah, a midwife-assisted birth makes the recovery time “so much quicker.”
Leah said her second child “rounds the family out nicely.”
“I’m fully out-numbered,” she joked about the male-dominated family.
Leah explained she chose to have at-home births with midwifes because she likes getting to know the midwife beforehand with her family.
“They [midwives] know your husband, your kids. It’s not a stranger that comes to your house, it’s someone you’ve seen for the past nine months. The before and after care is second to none. And if you’re getting to the point where you need some help, the ambulance comes.”
According to Ganga Jolicoeur, CEO of the Midwives Association of BC, “more parents are increasingly choosing a midwife as their maternity care provider.”
A couple hours prior to the birth of Arthur, newborn Ashlynn was the first baby to be born in the New Year at the Langley Memorial Hospital at 5:07 a.m. on Jan. 1.
Ashlynn’s parents Krista St. Louis and Jeffery Rawluk said they hadn’t expected a New Year’s day baby either.
READ MORE: Langley couple welcomes third daughter as the first Langley baby of 2019