It was a photo finish for two little boys in Montreal born in the early moments of New Year’s morning.
Born a second apart these two new Canadians have sparked a little dust up over who is the city’s first baby of 2012.
Tyler Stephen Wilson arrived at midnight – and a quarter of a second – at the Royal Victoria Hospital of the McGill University Health Centre.
However nurses at Maisonneuve Rosemont Hospital say baby José Palacio Zapata, born just two seconds after midnight was probably the first.
These little boys were just two of the New Year’s babies crowned in Canadian cities on Sunday morning.
Remarkably in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Bobbi Jo Ketcheson gave birth to a New Year’s baby for the second year in a row.
Grace Olivia Ketcheson was the first baby for 2012 at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, arriving 365 days and four minutes after her older brother, Jack, was the first baby in Regina in 2011.
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Both Grace and Jack were premature babies and weren’t due until February.
“My dad was with me (Saturday),” Ketcheson said. “I had just changed the laundry over and hadn’t even been sitting on the couch for five minutes. I gagged once, ran to the kitchen sink and threw up and looked at my dad, ‘Oh no, call 9-1-1, I have to push.”‘
Her husband, Kurtis Ketcheson was returning to Medicine Hat after being away for work when he got a phone call that his wife was about to give birth. He made it to the hospital just in time.
Grace was born in the same moments as Alyza Venice, a baby girl named Edmonton’s New Year’s baby.
Venice was born just four minutes after midnight to parents Zendell and Alistair Badival.
Her early arrival caught both of her parents by surprise.
“It’s pretty awesome, I mean, we didn’t expect to have a New Year’s baby,” says Zendell.
“We were expecting the baby January 16th,” explains her husband.
The first Torontonian, Baby Ming-Shio, born in 2012 arrived shortly after midnight – less than a minute – on January 1st.
“I feel happy, I feel exciting, for the baby,” said Li Zhang, the mother of Ming-Shio.
Ming-Shio also represents another first for the family that emigrated from China just ten months ago. Ming-Shio is the first of the family to be born in Canada.
Winnipeg’s New Year’s baby Noah Nicholas Nehemiah Ishalook was also born far away from his parents’ home. Noah entered the world at 12:09 a.m. far from what will become his home in Nunavut.
His mother 20-year-old Anne Rose Aulatjut is from Nunavut and has been in Winnipeg since December 12th waiting for baby Noah’s arrival. Noah’s dad had travelled back to Nunavut a day earlier, missing his birth by just one day.
Little Kostya Sorokotiaguine – weighing just a hair shy of seven pounds – is Saskatoon’s first baby of 2012 born to Dunkley and Dima at 12:13 a.m.
Dunkley’s due date had been Jan. 2, and the couple had joked that it would be funny if their son was the New Year’s baby.
With files from The Canadian Press and Postmedia News
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