James Van Der Beek appreciates his Instagram followers.
He’s grateful that you enjoy looking at his page and checking out the images.
But he understands in this one special case. He won’t blame you at all if you choose to look away from his account for a few moments.
The former Dawson’s Creek star has shared a photo on social media that is really unlike any celebrity photo you’ve ever seen on these platforms.
The picture features Van Der Beek cradling his newborn daughter Gwendolyn … but when we say newborn, we mean NEWBORN.
The child is still attached to her umbilical cord.
Van Der Beek has taken fans inside his wife’s home birth, giving everyone a very up close and awfully personal view of what it’s like to partake in this sort of miraculous event.
“The category is: Home-Birth Realness,” opens the father of five before in his caption to the following picture, warning the “squeamish” to divert their eyes.
We’ll emphasize that warning once again prior to publishing the photograph.
Ready? You sure?
Okay, here you go…
Van Der Beek continues in his message, listing everything you see above:
“Messy bed, Plastic sheeting underneath old sheets, Old towel crumpled on the floor, Vomit bag (unused), Inflatable birthing tub (also unused), Shirtless Dad, Boy in Spider-Man pajamas.”
(NOTE: This final item is easily our favorite. We love the idea of this adorable toddler just wandering around while his mother gives birth in his house to his sister.)
Concludes the actor:
“Happy, healthy baby, Happy healthy Mom in her own shower right after giving birth, Water bottle And . . . placenta in a mixing bowl (I warned you).”
It’s true.
He did warn us.
But most followers have reacted in amazement to such a picture, even thanking Van Der Beek for truly keeping it real.
Wrote one impressed individual, with the Instagram handle @kimberlys40:
Wow you are truly an amazing woman! @vanderkimberly and this is the most beautiful picture I have ever seen. Congratulations to the both of you and to your beautiful family.
The Dawson’s Creek alum and his wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, welcomed their fifth child on Friday, June 15.
He and the wellness blogger are also parents of Olivia, 7, Joshua, 6, Annabel Leah, 4, and Emilia, 2.
James conrirmed the arrival of little Gwendolyn on Sunday via a photo of the family fawning over its latest addition.
“These last few days, as I’ve enjoyed the privilege of making smoothies I know my older kids will like, making my wife red raspberry leaf tea to ease her uterine contractions, spending ‘boy time’ with my son and getting my two year-old down for a nap in the way only I know how… I’ve been sick about something,” he wrote.
He then referenced the VERY controversial White House policy of separating children from their immigrant parents:
“As I write this, kids are being ripped from the arms of their parents. By our government.
“For the kid’s benefit? No – the opposite – as a purposeful display of cruelty to deter would-be illegal border crossers AND legal asylum seekers (its happening to both).
“And it wouldn’t be honest to wax poetic about my new-baby bliss without speaking up against this atrocity.”
Concluded the veteran actor:
A crime against humanity is a crime against us all.
