Hello Friends & Family! We are excited to announce that Baby Umina decided to join us earth-side a few weeks earlier than anticipated! We thought Anna would go to 41/42 weeks or more, but Baby was ready to join us and boy was he FULLY COOKED coming through the portal on Saturday, May 10, 2025 at 12:28am. Our BIG boy came hauling out at 8lb 10oz (3.91kg) and 21.5 inches (54.6cm)! As most of you know we wanted to keep the gender a surprise until the birth! And although almost everyone was on team girl....we ended up having a beautiful and strong baby boy. We only had 1 name we were considering for a girl - Kailani because Anna was sure it was going to be a girl, but about a week or 2 before the birth we discussed with the boys (Gio & Leo) and decided to brainstorm a few names just in case it was a boy. The two names we came up with were Kovi & Theo! It took us a couple days to settle on the name, but after a family decision together with Gio & Leo we all voted for THEO! Welcome Theodori Sebastiano Umina! We have made this page for you to see and hear about this beautiful life transition and to keep you all updated! You will need to sign in as a "supporter" and "follow" this page in order to see the updates. There is also an option for donations if you so choose. Since many of you have asked about a meal train or offered help seeing what we might need. This page will have a breakdown and specifics of how you can help if you so choose! Please feel free to sign up with your email to get updates, pictures and videos of our little angel and growing family! (You're welcome to sign up just to read the updates without feeling the need to donate anything!) BIRTH STORY & TIMELINE: WOW! What a blessing this experience has been - to say the least. TLDR: - We did a Free Birth at Home in the water (No Doctor, Doula or Midwife) - 19 hours "Inactive" Labor - We thought Braxton Hicks - 3-4 hours active Labor - 30 minutes of pushing. Due to the controversial topic and lack of understanding by most of society these days, we were hesitant to share our birth plan with most people which most people aren't aware of. After weeks and months of discussion and deliberation we made the brave & considerably RADICAL decision to opt for a FREE BIRTH!!! What is a FREE-BIRTH you might ask? FREE BIRTHING is the intentional act of giving birth at home without the presence of a regulated healthcare professional like a doctor or midwife. We both did our homework with extensive due diligence and even studied for months doing a full course from THE FREEBIRTH SOCIETY (www.freebirthsociety.com) and felt more and more comfortable and confident as the weeks progressed. Anna even was fortunate enough to be pointed towards a Women's Freebirth Circle (Village Prenatal-facilitated by Lori and Celia) by a friend. Attending two of their monthly gatherings, Anna was able to connect with a strong support group of women that helped give her the strength, courage and validation that she could do this. We are so fortunate to have both met with Lori, Freebirth Couch/Doula with extensive birthing experience, the day labor started (although we thought it was Braxton hicks). She graciously made herself available for calls or texts throughout the birth in the event we had any questions or concerns. And so, Theo was born at home, in our own backyard and in the water and boy was it magical. It was better than we ever could have imagined and hands down the most incredible, empowering & spectacular experience of our lives thus far. Thank GOD we were also blessed to have a friend of ours, Marie, as another female presence there and extra helping hand to gather, collect and support whatever was needed. Anna had the smoothest pregnancy ever heard of with ZERO morning sickness and nausea, ZERO "pregnancy cravings" and almost non existent physical difficulties up until the last couple weeks. In fact, up until about 30 or 32 weeks she kept saying "I keep forgetting I'm pregnant until I look down and see my belly!" It's as if she was made for this or something.... 🤓😎😇 Now, the actual birthing timeline: Thursday Morning: Anna starts having what we believe to be some "Braxton Hicks" Contractions that were inconsistent and happening 4-6 hrs sporadically. Ironically that morning we had scheduled a meeting with one of the organizers of Village Prenatal, Lori, for Anthony to meet her and to discuss Free-birthing more in person with someone experienced. Thursday 11:30pm: Anna's Braxton Hicks continue but then don't stop and actually continue all night every 5-15 minutes not allowing her to sleep that night but maybe 1-2 hours around 5am. Friday Morning: The contractions are not stopping so we start thinking this might be the beginning of labor. Anthony begins to knock some urgent things off our checklist like cleaning out the jacuzzi hot tub and replacing with new clean water - installing sink and shelving in our primary bathroom because that hadn't been finished yet and just prepping all the birth supplies and food. Anna spends the day mostly in the backyard. In and out of the pool and jacuzzi, walking, stretching, and swimming just trying to flow with the contractions. Friday Evening: We had a planned cooking night with our dear friends Britney and Amanda to help us food and meal prep for the birth (not knowing she'd be in labor) so we did that while Anna continued to breathe and flow through contractions. Friday Night: Around sunset just before 8pm contractions started to ramp up a bit and it became more and more clear as each contraction passed that she was definitely in active labor and baby would be coming soon. Around 9-10pm things got pretty intense and active labor increasingly became more difficult. Our dear friend Marie who we had planned to be present for the birth and lives almost 2 hours away in Sebastapol arrived around 1030pm and was a huge help in being there as a beautifully calm female presence for Anna and being an extra hand for Anthony for anything we needed. Saturday 12:28am - Theo was born with beautiful pink color - calmly in the water and comfortably caught by Anthony and handed to Mama Anna to be lovingly embraced.