Huge congrats to new mom (and June 2016 Momtastic guest editor), Erika Christensen!
The former “Parenthood” actress and her husband, Cole Maness, welcomed a 6lb, 3oz girl, Shane Maness, at their home in California on Tuesday, June 21.
Earlier this month, Christensen spoke to Momtastic about her desire to have a home birth. “I’m definitely shooting for a natural birth at home, without drugs,” she revealed. “I’m a Scientologist and I’m sure you’ve heard of silent births, but that term is inaccurate because I’m not really sure silent is possible. It’s not even necessary. It’s quiet. Just keeping everything as calm as possible and using as few words as possible during the delivery.”
She also shared how she was preparing for her home birth. “I’ve been learning about the Bradley Method, which is conducive to a quiet birth because it’s about relaxing and not tensing up,” she explained. “It advises visualizing contractions as a wave that you ride and when it peaks you float up over it and then you go down the other side. I think this will put me in the right frame of mind philosophically, which is respecting and contributing to what your body is doing, without resisting in any way.”
“I intend to be in the bath for the labor but not the delivery,” she added. “If I’m in the bath when the time comes to push, then I’ll get out and maybe go to the bed. My ob-gyn has also delivered babies right on the floor; really, I’ll be free to get into whatever position I need to be in.”
Christensen, who married Maness last September, chose to keep her pregnancy under wraps until posting an adorable pregnancy announcement with her puppy when she was seven months along. Throughout her pregnancy, the self-proclaimed “super outdoorsy” actress made fitness a top priority. “The elliptical machine at the gym has been awesome,” she told us. “In Hawaii, where we recently went for our babymoon—which we didn’t even know was a thing, the timing just kind of worked out that way—we would go swimming and hiking every day.”
As for what it’s going to be like to raise a daughter? “It’s a balance between what you want for your children and what they want for themselves,” she told us. “My daughter can have her own opinions and her own desires and everything like that. The most that I can do is be responsible for educating her so she can make good choices.”
Wishing the best to Erika, Cole, and baby Shane!
