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The 37-year-old Baden woman was due to have her fourth child on Jan. 17, but she always hoped baby Levi would arrive sooner.
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“In my mind, I wanted him to come earlier because I was ready to have him,” she said. “The three kids at home are so busy, too, and I was hoping it would come as a Christmas baby at the end of the year, but I had no idea he would be the New Year’s baby.”
With Violet, 10, May, 3, and Hannah, who turns two on Jan. 15, anxiously awaiting the arrival of their little brother, Vang went into labor New Year’s Day around 7:30 am
Levi was born at 9:36 am, weighing seven pounds and 15 ounces. He was the only baby born on Jan. 1 at Stratford General Hospital, arriving shortly before five newborns on Jan. 2.
That notoriety wasn’t what Vang was thinking of when she arrived at the hospital.
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“There’s things you can’t predict with how long you will be there,” she said. “I didn’t think he would be the first baby until the nurse came in with a gift basket and said he’s the first baby boy. It was fun.”
Vang was born in Thailand and moved to Canada when she was two. She grew up in Kitchener and had her first child at Grand River Hospital, but the next two were born in Stratford, where her husband Tou works.
Driving to Perth County when it was time to deliver Levi was an easy choice, and he rewarded his mother with the shortest of four labors.
“We had such an amazing experience (at Stratford hospital),” she said. “It was a smaller hospital, and that’s what we liked. We continued to go back because the service was really great.”
Levi’s sisters were “over the moon” to finally welcome a baby brother to the family.
“We’re definitely outnumbered for sure,” Vang said. “We’re just enjoying every moment with Levi, and his sisters are just smothering him with love.
“This is the easy stage, the newborn stage. It’s when they start walking and talking back to you, that’s the hard stage.”
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