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'The Bachelorette''s Desiree Hartsock Opened Up About Her 'Great' Home Birth

by Alana Romain

Child birth isn't usually high on the list of experiences people expect to be a ton of fun, and there's good reason for that. It's painful, nerve-wracking, and it can also be long and unpredictable. Sometimes though, women get lucky enough to have relatively easy deliveries, and it sounds like The Bachelorette alum Desiree Hartsock may be one of them. In an interview with Us Weekly published Friday, Desiree Hartsock opened up about her home birth with her newborn son, Zander, and all things considered, the delivery sounded like a dream.

Hartsock — who appeared on the reality show's ninth season, and went on to marry her final suitor, Chris Siegfried — discussed the experiencing of welcoming the couple's second child into the world Jan. 12, and one big difference from her first delivery with son Asher in 2016 is that Zander was actually born at home. In a post on her blog in Jan. 2017, Hartsock shared Asher's birth story, and revealed that she and Siegfried had opted to deliver him at a local birth center. When it came time to bring his brother into the world though? They did it all in the comfort of their own home — an in fact, Hartsock told Us Weekly that she and her husband actually "got to watch the sunrise from [their] bedroom" as Zander made his arrival.

If that sounds pretty idyllic, well, Hartsock definitely seems to agree. She told Us Weekly that her 5-and-a-half-hour home birth was a "great experience," and said, "I think it was even better this time around just because you're at home. It was just like, I don’t know, pretty manageable." Yet Hartsock didn't just have an easy delivery — in her latest Instagram update, she told her followers that Zander has so far been "the most chill babe ever," and that "the adjustment has been wonderful."

Just in case anyone gets the impression that Hartsock was somehow magically spared the often-grueling reality of the postpartum adjustment period though, she recently made a point to open up on Instagram about the very real challenge of the "fourth trimester," and encouraged women to go easy on themselves and take the necessary time to heal.

In a post shared only four days after welcoming her second son, Hartsock posted a bathroom mirror selfie wearing a nursing bra and showing off her still-pregnant-looking belly, and wrote,

I'm not typically one to document or especially share body image pics but the more and more postpartum pics I see from you all — the more empowering I feel the message can be to new moms — or anyone for that matter! So here I am 4 days postpartum looking like I'm still pregnant but feeling like a supermodel/warrior.

In her post, Hartsock also wrote about the fact that "a woman's pregnancy journey doesn’t end when the baby arrives," and that between the hormones and cramping, and all the other less-than-glamorous physical changes, it really *can* take a while after delivery before you start to feel like your old self again. Particularly given how much women somehow still seem to be expected to "bounce back" after birth as soon as possible, that's a message that can't possibly be reiterated enough.

Though Hartsock definitely seems down to keep it real, it does also seem like she's been very lucky, all things considered. Not only are she and Siegfried one of the rare Bachelor Nation couples to actually tie the knot and remain happily married four years after walking down the aisle, they now share two beautiful sons together — both of whom seem to have had quite easy entrances into the world. So while giving birth in your own bedroom may not be for everyone, it definitely seemed to be the right choice for Hartsock, and it's great to hear it worked out so well.