Jules was born on 17 February 2012, in France, weighing 3.51kg and measuring 51.5cm. After 5 years of trying to conceive and an 18 hour long and trying labour, I was in awe the moment I saw his face. It finally happened, I have a healthy baby boy! I'm a mom! I just contributed to raising the IVF success rate in France! I kicked infertility to the curb! La vie est belle!
The moment he arrived, they laid him on my chest area for about 2 hours. In our personal experience, skin-to-skin contact right after birth was absolutely soothing for both mother and child. It was like he knew I was a first time mom, so instead of scaring me with screams and cries, he was incredibly calm and gentle (unlike me during labour). What a considerate baby! The whole time he was like Curious George, looking around with a lot of questions in his eyes, but one thing was certain, when he looked at me, he knew I was his mommy. That look in his eyes just melted my heart! He did try to suckle my breast, but unfortunately, I didn't have any milk supply. I felt quite guilty that I couldn't feed my baby straight away.
We spent 6 days in the hospital before we could go home. During that time they taught me the baby basics: how to change a diaper, bath a baby, take his temperature from his bottom, breastfeed and even how to take boogers out of his nose. Poopy diapers, booger nuggets, getting peed on - I welcomed it all!
In France, the baby stays in the room with the mother, which was fantastic. What a glorious time we had. People came to visit us, received a lot of gifts, Jules was so well behaved and the overall mother and son bonding time was precious. Unfortunately, my hubby was quite stressed because during that week, he had a tough course to take, with an exam at the end of the week. Therefore, after class he would quickly visit us in the evening, have dinner at his mom's house and then study. Becoming a dad for the first time and having to take a course at the same time was stressful, but he got through it.
I know all mothers say this about their baby, but honestly, Jules was crazy cute straight away. Even the nurses were commenting on how adorable he was and they told me that it usually takes a baby a few days or even weeks before their face starts to look cute, but Jules was beautiful from the start. Yes, proud mother talking here. Anyhow, here are a few photos, so you be the judge.
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| Jules is 4 days old and this photo was taken by the hospital photographer. |
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| Jules giving us a little giggle during the photo shoot. |
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| Jules with his BFF, Lambie. |
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| Sleeping like a little angel. |
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| Jules with his eyes open. |
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| Jules wearing this handmade cardigan, made by a wonderful lady in our village. |
Your baby is adorable. Mine only started smiling around five weeks so yours is super special! I also had him in the room. But we only had him skin to skin after birth for about five minutes, so you are lucky there.
ReplyDeleteWow that is a lot of cats! I always grew up with a car but now I have two dogs.