When Mike Dole and Carol Parry learned they were pregnant with their second child, they decided this time they wanted a home birth. The decision was less risky for them than for some, as Mike is a physician. He wanted to experience the process as a dad and not a health care professional however, so they sought the help of two experienced midwives from a local primary care clinic. The other difference from most home births was that this would be in CoHousing. In their planning, they didn't anticipate quite how important a factor this was to be.
On the morning of (date), they were attending Brianna's preschool teacher conference when Carol announced, "We may have to cut this short; I'm in labor". They left the school at 11:30 am and headed for home. The baby was dermined to appear in record time. Luckily it was a Thursday, Judy's day off, and John was working in his home office on the second floor that day. Dorothea, a first-floor resident, had been included earlier in the plans as a back-up labor coach, and she joined the Parry-Dole household in their third-floor unit almost immediately to help Mike. Brianna was put to work answering the phone as concerned friends called to check in: "Mommy can't come to the phone right now. She's having a baby." The first midwife arrived, and John was drafted to answer the front door as the other midwife and a friend who had planned to stay with Brianna were expected momentarily. Meanwhile Brianna went next door to Judy's apartment which shares the third floor, when the activity became too intense for her. Matthew was born at 1:15 pm, not waiting for the second midwife to appear. The community was thrilled to get their first collective look at Matthew when Mike came down to retrieve breakfast for his newly increased family the next morning.