Jack August Simmons made quite a splash when he was born.
He arrived in the water-birth tub at University Hospital and he was also the city's first baby of 2015, arriving on the evening of Jan. 1.
Parents Jennifer Lestage and Tim Simmons were not thinking about the New Year's Baby title at the time and were actually quite surprised to meet Jack when they did.
"The due date was January 16," said Simmons. "The early arrival was a bit of a surprise. Her water broke on New Year's Eve so we started the whole process quite a bit early. We stayed home for most of the contractions, but then it was time to go in, and we made it to the hospital at about 8:40 p.m., Jennifer got into the tub and the baby came at about 8:50. It happened so fast she practically caught her own baby."
By Jan. 2, babe and parents were back home.
"It was a very easy birth, everybody was healthy, so everybody talked about it and agreed we could go home if we wanted to, so Jennifer wanted to be at home," Simmons said.
It was the couple's second child. Jack came home to an older brother Lincoln who was also born under the care of a midwife in the water-birth tub at UHNBC. Lincoln was born in April 2013.
"He's a little bit jealous; we are seeing some of the signs," of reaction from Lincoln, said Simmons, "But he's also cuddling the baby, too, so that's good."
The race to be this year's New Year's baby wasn't much of a sprint to the finish. Simmons said when they arrived at the hospital "it was totally quiet at the nurse's station, no other moms were in at all. There was another midwife call but it turned out to be a false alarm. So it was just us."
