It took a day, but the first baby born in Chatham-Kent of the new year was delivered Wednesday morning.
The seven pound, five ounce Samuel Stylianou-Penny was born at 8:40 a.m. in Chatham at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance on January 2. His mother, Kayla Penny, said she didn't think Samuel would be the first baby of 2019 when she went into labour.
"It feels different," Penny said. "I wasn't expecting it on January 2 but it is a good feeling. It's cool."
According to Penny, she and another expecting mother came into the hospital at the same time early Wednesday morning. Penny said the other woman was giving birth to her first child so she was in labour longer than Penny who was having her second baby.
Penny said she was due January 4 and aside from going into labour early, it went as well as it could have.
"Not pain-free, it definitely wasn't pain-free," Penny said. "It was as good as can be expected. [Samuel] is great and he's perfect. He's healthy, I'm healthy. We're good to go."
Samuel's father, Soteris Stylianou, said it was really cool to have the first baby in the municipality of the new year. Both parents were more excited to bring Samuel home though, and Kayla expects to be discharged on Thursday.