Thomas James Paul Watson became Watsonville’s first baby of the new year, weighing 7 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring 20 inches long when he was born at 3:36 a.m.
He is the first child for mother Zendaida Mena, 27, and Nick Watson, 29. Swaddled and sleeping comfortably Friday afternoon, Thomas rested as his parents were ebullient and excited about the journey they had just begun.
But Thomas’s arrival was not a smooth one.
The trouble began during labor, when an entangled umbilical cord went unresolved despite medical intervention. Soon, the baby’s blood pressure began to drop, and medical staff delivered their verdict: a cesarean section was needed.
Watson described the experience as “surreal.”
“You don’t think you know true fear until you’re going through it,” he said. “Just feeling helpless and not knowing what’s going to happen is so terrifying.”
Watson described what came next as a “peak and a valley,” from fear to release, as Mena’s blood pressure also began to drop.
All of that soon gave way to relief when a healthy Thomas was placed in his arms.
“He’s here, we’re good, it’s time to go,” Watson said. “I’m very excited and I’m very happy.”
Mena agreed.
“Once I was able to hold him, I was like, ‘I would do that again just to hold him,’” she said.
The family lives on an 8-acre property in Live Oak with extended family. Watson’s sister has two children under age 3, and his brother is due to have a baby later this month.
“It feels like everything happened the way it was meant to happen,” Watson said.
Mena works as a clerk for Santa Clara County Superior Court, and Watson is an IT technician for DeLaveaga Elementary School and Branciforte Middle School.
Thomas was the second baby born in Santa Cruz County this year. Dominican Hospital recorded the first birth at 12:19 a.m., but the parents declined to be interviewed.
