Jason Howe and Micheala Gush-Howe welcomed a nearly New Year’s baby on the afternoon of Jan. 9, 2021.

The arrival of a new baby is remarkable enough, but for the proud parents this is a second time occurrence, as their daughter Abby was featured in the Herald as a New Year’s baby back in 2017, after she was born at the Nicola Valley Hospital, which at the time had not done regular baby deliveries in nearly twenty years.

Their son Hunter would have been born at the Merritt hospital as well, but Micheala faced serious complications and had to be rushed to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.

“It was scary,” said Micheala, with Jason noting that she lost two and a half litres of blood in a matter of minutes.

“The doctors at the hospital in Kamloops, they got on the ball really quick,” said Jason.

“3:30 in the morning she woke me up, we got dressed and went up to the hospital here. They said ‘OK, what’s your contractions?’ Then they said it would be a while before they could get ambulance transport… they asked if we had a vehicle, I said yeah, we’ve got a vehicle.”

The couple decided to travel to Kamloops on their own rather than wait for the ambulance.

“By the time we got to Kamloops she had five contractions,” said Jason.

“We got to the emerg. in Kamloops and from the car to the emerg. entrance she had six contractions.”

Although he wasn’t actually due until Jan 12., baby Hunter made his appearance at 12:40 p.m. on Jan. 9, weighing in at a healthy 7lbs 4oz.

“He’s healthy, he’s awesome,” said the proud father.

“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with baby boy,” Micheala added.

“He’s so content, the only time he cries is when we change his bum and he gets cold, or when he’s really hungry and he wants it right away. All he does is eat!”

Although they brought their daughter home from the hospital in the middle of a blizzard, Jason said this time around he tips his hat to the highway maintenance workers, as the roads were clear and passable despite the winter conditions.

The couple are now settling into life with a newborn yet again, and have a large circle of support to make things easier.

“We want to give a big thanks to Janet Verbeeck, our infant development supporter, Colleen Fines, our MCFD social worker, Lee Florence from the Metis Association, and all our family and friends,” Jason said.