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Couple has baby at home during coronavirus pandemic

Megan and her husband Eric originally planned to have the baby at a hospital, but plans changed when the coronavirus struck.
Mabel Geiken was born at home during the pandemic. (Eric Geiken)

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WZZM) — Born on Saturday at 7 pounds, 10 ounces, Mabel Geiken will hear quite the story from her parents when she grows up.

"I just will never forget the look on Eric's face once he realized that the baby was really coming now," said Megan Geiken, Mabel's mom. "And he just kept it together."

Megan and her husband Eric originally planned to have the baby at a hospital, but plans changed when the coronavirus struck.

"Watching everything close down, I was like a lot of moms," explains Megan. "Just feeling all the anxiety about being pregnant at this time."

The couple met with Yolanda Visser, a midwife with Birth Song Midwifery in Grand Rapids, and immediately felt more at ease about having the baby at home with her around.

But once again, plans changed, and Mabel arrived five minutes before the midwife.

"We saw her car pull up in the driveway so I went down to the front porch and told her baby's here," says Eric. "She was just as surprised as we were."

The couple says that despite all the craziness, the baby is healthy and they want others to know their experience was a good one.

"If you are feeling a lot of anxiety about the world, you can do it and you can trust your body and your instincts will just kick in," explains Megan.

Mabel is the couple's second child. They say if a third one comes in the future, they would consider a home birth once again.

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