Richard Marcus Stapells

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Please note - all the pictures are thumbnails.  Simply click on the image to view a larger picture.

Marcus On June 17th 1999, Richard Marcus Stapells was born to Anthony Edward Richard Stapells and Sabine Hedi Stapells.  Officially he was overdue since he was supposed to arrive on June 13th, but we think he was well worth the wait.
Both sets of grandparents were thrilled - this was their first grandchild for all of them.  Needless to say, Marcus will be spoiled rotten.The paternal grandparents, Donald and Cynthia Stapells, as well as the maternal grandparents, Helmut and Ursula Viet, all reside in the same city as Marcus.  This will make baby-sitting so much easier! Marcus and Mom

Marcus with Computer The birth was intended to be at home and everything went nearly as planned.  Sabine was considerate enough to go into labour at the midwives' office, which was a first.  They'd never had a woman go into labour in the waiting room before.  We went home to wait, since we were told that Sabine should expect a long labour

As soon as we got home, Sabine went into active labour.  I was told that the contractions should be about 2-3 minutes long and about 2-3 minutes apart.  Gradually the contractions would get more intense, last longer, but be farther apart.  When the contractions were about 5 minutes apart, I was to call the midwife. Marcus and Opa

Marcus with Oma Sabine didn't seem to have any time between contractions however.  I figured that soon the contractions would begin coming further apart, as I had been told.  They didn't.  About ninety minutes later, Sabine seemed to be in more pain than I would have expected (not that I've ever done this before!)  I was thinking that I should call the midwife even though the contractions were about thirty seconds apart and not five minutes.  Suddenly Sabine told me she was going to push.

Marcus and Dad "Hmmm," I thought.  "This doesn't seem quite right."  So I phoned the midwife, Karen, and explained the situation.  She said she would right over, since the baby was on the way.  Fortunately she lives about a minute away, because when she got to our house, the baby's head was already crowning.  Somehow we got Sabine out of the bathroom, where she had been labouring, to the birthing room (otherwise known as our dining room).

And exactly 22 minutes after Karen the midwife arrived here, little Marcus was born into the world, accompanied by a sudden summer thunderstorm which disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.  He weighed 8lb 4oz and was a lengthy 22 inches long.  Sabine's total active labour lasted only 2 hours and 4 minutes, which is very fast for any birth, let alone a first baby.  Sabine attributes this to the large quantities of Raspberry leaf tea which she drank in her last month of pregancy.

The whole experience was absolutely wonderful, especially having the baby at home in comfortable surroundings.  Everyone should consider having their baby at home; we'll never consider anything else.

So, aside from sleep deprivation, everyone is doing fine.  Feel free to email us.  We'd love to hear from you!