Red Deer’s first baby of the year arrived 52 minutes after the clock struck midnight on Jan. 1.
Joanne Giant, 17, and Brandon Ducharme, 20, welcomed their daughter Shauntay Loretta Mary Ducharme-Giant into the world at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.
Shauntay was born by caesarean section after Giant spent about two days in labour.
“They were kind of worried because her heart kept slowing down every time I had contractions. The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck,” Giant said on Friday afternoon at the hospital, where she was still recovering from the c-section.
The infant, with a full head of soft, black hair, was sleeping peacefully after visits from relatives earlier in the day.
Giant said she was hoping to have a natural child birth but her cervix was also swollen, which made the c-section a necessity.
The baby’s due date was Jan. 2 and Shauntay was born weighing 3.68 kg (eight pounds, two ounces).
Shauntay is the couple’s first baby.
They have been living in Red Deer for about seven months. Ducharme works stocking shelves at Uptown Liquor Store.
Elsewhere in Central Alberta, Rocky Mountain House also saw its New Year’s Baby born on Jan. 1.
Paxtyn Corrina Marie Osborne was born at 7:32 a.m. to Holly Furniss, 21, and Kenneth Osborne, 25.
Paxtyn weighed 3.34 kg (seven pounds, six ounces) when she was born at Rocky Mountain House Health Centre.
Osborne said they arrived at the health centre around 5 p.m. on Dec. 31. Labour was later induced because Furniss was experiencing high blood pressure.
Paxtyn is the couple’s second child. They also have two-year-old son.
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com