James Reed Huguet - A Birth Story

On February 19th, at 6:08 A.M., we welcomed our baby boy to the world!

Man, those last few weeks of pregnancy are tough.  I spent the first eighteen days of February trying to convince our baby to get a move on.  Every day I would wake up and tell him it was a great day to be born, only to go to bed bummed out that he hadn't taken me up on the offer.  I was being impatient.  He wasn't late, even on an American timeline (40 weeks) he had a couple days to spare.  But I was ready.  In France, doctors will not induce labor until after 41 weeks, which for us would have been around March 3rd.  I was so terrified that he was going to hang out in me until March that I went out and bought raspberry tea (and drank it daily), got a prescription for a homeopathic concoction suspected to bring on labor (although I only had the nerve to take it a few times), started taking regular walks around the city, and spent about an hour a day on the exercise ball - because I thought I could bounce him out?  Not sure why I thought that one might help.  I had also had zero signs of upcoming labor.  No Braxton Hicks contractions at all, and at our last doctor appointment there had been zero dilation / effacement.  Nothing!  The morning of February 18th I had a monitoring session with our midwife.  Thirty minutes with the sensors strapped to the belly, to ensure baby's heart rate was normal.  It was of course; we were blessed with a textbook perfect pregnancy.  But a healthy mom and healthy baby meant we were back to the waiting game.  We scheduled another monitoring session for the following week, amidst many groans and grumbles from me.  Since my frustration and discomfort were obvious, our midwife offered to do a quick internal check and, if possible, a membrane sweep.  The exam brought a glimmer of hope - I had made it to 1 cm!  At least something was happening.  She did the sweep and warned me that there would probably be some discomfort and light contractions for a few hours, but not to get my hopes up because often they die off and nothing happens.  So home I went... with mild pains in my belly, a French lesson to prepare for, and little faith that the sweep would actually do anything.  

That afternoon, around 4:30 P.M., something woke me up from my afternoon nap (don't judge - being 9 months pregnant is hard!).  My belly was hurting again, but this time it was enough to disturb me from sleep.  I still didn't really think much of it though.  That is until, about 30 minutes later (I was still in bed, attempting to sleep more despite the contractions), my water broke!  I couldn't believe it!  After a couple minutes of recovering from the shock that this was finally happening, I called Kerry home from work, and then proceeded to do the next most logical thing I could think of - laundry.  It was my last chance for a few days!  I also packed the last few things for the hospital bag, and updated my mom with the status, since at the time she was getting ready to board a plane in Austin to come visit us.  We spent the next few hours at home, doing our best to distract me from the pains and get the apartment as tidied as possible before I had to leave for a few days.  The midwife came by every couple of hours to check the progress and make sure the baby was still doing well.  Then around 9:00, the intensity picked up, and my energy started dropping.  I managed it for two more hours, only to be told I had only made it to 3 centimeters!  How discouraging.  I started the day at 1 cm, then spent 7 hours only to get 2 more??  I was ready for some relief.  And I was soooo tired.  Nodding off between contractions tired.  Pain I expected, nausea I expected, many other things I was prepared for, but exhaustion?  I didn't see that one coming.  So we packed up the car and got to the hospital around midnight.  The delivery wing was empty, it seems the rest of the babies planning to be born on the 19th waited until a more decent hour of the day; I wasn't complaining though, I was just glad he was on his way!  We got checked in quickly, took the epidural, and then it was back to waiting... the hospital staff was having a lot of fun practicing their English with us.  But all I wanted to do was sleep!  But I was also eager to get it all over with, and I was nervous that if I fell asleep it would slow the progress.  Around 5:45 we got the all clear to push (finally!) and at 6:08 A.M. after a 14 hour, complication free labor, the doctors announced we officially had a new baby boy!  He was immediately placed on my chest for two hours of skin to skin time before being weighed and measured - they all thought he was a big baby!  French people are little.  He weighed in at 3.6 kilos (7 lbs 15 oz) and measured 50 cm (19.7 inches).

Dad is ready!

Time to get this baby out!

That evening we settled on a name.  He had really been JR from the beginning, but we didn't commit to it fully until we were able to lay eyes on him.  Both names are family names.  James is Kerry's middle name, and Reed is the middle name of both my father and grandfather.

We spent the next three days in the hospital, receiving regular check ups for both me and JR, learning how to bathe and care for a newborn, and not sleeping one bit - how are you ever supposed to rest in those places??  By Friday night I was bouncing off the walls I was so ready to go home.  We finally got released Saturday afternoon, piles of French paperwork in hand and a tiny baby all of our own!

Going home!

Since then we have been adjusting to our new life at home as a family of five.  Fortunately, we've had a live in maid / chef / babysitter so Kerry and I have really been able to focus on getting to know our little one.  The dogs are also adjusting well, although Minnie was a bit nervous the first few times he let out some good cries, and every now and then Max seems very confused by the new baby.  Overall, we are doing well - every day brings a new surprise and a new challenge, but we loving our new roles as Mommy and Daddy!