Niagara welcomes three new year babies
At just minutes old, Kinsley Aria had already made a name for herself — she’s Niagara’s first baby of 2018.
Parents Kennedy Wilson and Bryan Gent from St. Catharines welcomed the beautiful seven-pound, six-ounce girl at 12:51 a.m. Monday at Niagara’s maternity ward at St. Catharines hospital.
It was there that she had a room full of friends and family fawning over her.
The new dad said they were really surprised by her early arrival, Kinsley’s due date being the 24th of January.
“We just moved into our place and are still unpacking, so this was a bit of a surprise,” he said.
Kennedy said her water broke just after 7 p.m. New Year’s Eve. The couple threw stuff in a bag and left for hospital.
“We drove; we didn’t panic. Finding the bag and everything that was scattered — that was a bit of a nightmare,” Bryan said.
The couple said they went through a bunch of baby names, but Kinsley just stuck with them.
Sitting in the corner chair Monday was new grandma Kim, who watched as her other daughters held the baby girl.
“She definitely made my new year exciting.”
Last year nearly 3,000 babies were delivered at St. Catharines hospital.
While Kinsley was the first of this year, she isn’t the only baby to be born at St. Catharines hospital on New Year’s Day.
Port Colborne couple Chelsea MacDonald and Adam White welcomed Rae-Ann Marie White into their family of four at 8:23 a.m.
Rae-Ann made her debut weighing in at six pounds, four ounces — and pretty much right on time, too.
Chelsea said her due date was Dec. 31, but she figured she’d be having a new year’s baby. She said everyone else joked about how she would, as well, and sure enough, she did.
The hospital room was alight with excitement Monday, especially as Rae-Ann’s five-year-old twin brothers Nova and Haven Walls kept checking her out and showing her their love.
“She’s made our family complete,” mom said as she held her sleeping newborn in her arms.
She said throughout her pregnancy she was convinced she was having another boy. They didn’t find out the gender ahead of the birth, but she was still certain that she’d have another son.
Having a girl is something she’s definitely thrilled about, considering for the longest time she’s been surrounded by boys. Although she grew up with sisters, her own family, even their pets, have all been boys.
Although the couple purchased gender-neutral items for their coming baby, Chelsea said she’s looking forward to buying lots of pink.
“Beautiful and perfect” were words Adam used to describe his daughter. His wife said he’s a softy and will definitely dote on her.
Because the twins are in school full time, Chelsea said there will be plenty of bonding time between mom, dad and baby. She has a year of maternity leave to look forward to and Adam has two weeks to spend at home with his family.
Also born at St. Catharines hospital New Year’s Day was Tyson Leigh Tyler Finn, weighing eight pounds, 9.8 ounces, to mom Brianna Jamieson and dad Tylor Finn. The hospital reported he arrived at about 1:50 p.m. btymczyszyn@postmedia.com twitter.com/ bobtym lbarton@postmedia.com twitter.com/LBartonTribune