We thought we had weeks left. Then December 30 showed up and rewrote the plan in about half an hour.

We’re Jessyl and Alex, and we’re sharing the raw, funny, very real birth story of our son Leomar. It starts with a “due month” mindset and a family calendar that felt solid until contractions hit differently, shorter and deeper than the Braxton Hicks we’d been brushing off. Add a few days of being sick, low appetite, and the mental whiplash of wondering “Is this real labor or not?” even after multiple births, and you get a morning that moves fast.

Things escalate when transition shows up the way it usually does for us: nausea, intensity, and that unmistakable sense that the baby is close. There’s also the parenting chaos piece, including a surf mission that gets interrupted, kids trying to time contractions, and the moment we realize someone might actually miss the birth. We talk through what we noticed, what helped during labor (including the jaw and mouth relaxation trick), and what it’s like when your water breaks early and your body basically ejects a baby before you can even think to “catch.”

Afterward we get into postpartum reality and the parts people rarely say out loud: the mess, the jokes, the placenta focus, and the first months of newborn sleep. We also tell the story behind the name Leomar, why we wanted an L name, and how we chose something that works in both Spanish and English with meaning for our whole family.

If you like honest home birth stories, fast labor details, and real-life parenting moments, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What part of the story surprised you most?