‘90 Day Fiance’ Paola and Russ Mayfield Detail Home Birth With New Photos of Baby Axel

90 Day Fiance stars Paola and Russ Mayfield shared more details about newborn son Axel’s home birth in January, along with new set of photos. They were released ahead of Sunday’s episode, in which Axel makes his first appearance.

Click here to see the new photos.

The Mayfields shared the new photos with Us Weekly early Sunday. Paola, who was born in Colombia, said she chose to do a home water birth to stay away from a hospital’s cold atmosphere.

“I wanted to have more control about my son. I wanted to be able to see everything what was happening with him, and I know that at the hospital, they normally take the baby away,” she told the magazine. “So when I was talking with the midwife, she told me that I’m going to be there, he’s going to be on my chest. And I did my investigation and all about the placenta … and how to keep the baby connected to the placenta for almost two hours.”

Paola, 32, said she was attracted to how natural the whole process was. She did not want to be separated from her son at any point during his birth.

“It’s just a long process and so natural that I was like, ‘I want to do it this way. I don’t want to go to the hospital and do it. They don’t do it that way,’” she told Us Weekly. “And I didn’t want to separate from my son for any minute.”

Mayfield admitted that he actually fell asleep for a bit during Axel’s birth. He fell asleep, but snapped awake when Paola’s contractions began again and she kicked him.

The Mayfields welcomed their first child on Jan. 1, just 22 minutes into the new year. They shared a photo of the baby with PEOPLE two days after Axel’s birth.

“We were hoping for a Christmas baby, but ended up with a New Year’s baby, and we wouldn’t change our experience for anything else,” the two said, with Paola adding that Axel’s birth was “an amazing way to start a new year.”

“While I was hearing the fireworks and people telling me Happy New Year, I was just focused on meeting my baby,” Paola told PEOPLE. “It wasn’t easy, but it was totally worth it! My little miracle is so beautiful and calm. I feel so blessed and I can’t believe I am a mom now. I’m ready to start this new adventure and to be the best mom for baby Axel.”

Although Axel’s birth was a great experience, Paola told Us Weekly in May she has no plans to have another child with Mayfrield. If he wants another one, Mayfield will have to “do it yourself,” she joked.

“I would like Axel to have … at least one more sibling,” Mayfield admitted in the same interview.

Mayfield said at four months old, Axel already started “jibber-babbering” and held a bottle by himself. “He’s recognizing the pacifier to put it in his own mouth,” Mayfield said.

The Mayfields are a 90 Day Fiance success story. The couple appeared on the show’s first season, then starred in 90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After? Season 3.

90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After? airs on TLC Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.

Photo credit: TLC