New mom Trisha Manio was as surprised as anyone when her baby boy Parker became the North Shore's New Year's baby Jan. 1. For starters, Parker wasn't due until Jan. 9. Manio, who lives in Vancouver with her husband Herman, had also planned to have her baby at St. Paul's Hospital, where her midwife usually works.
But fate has a way of intervening.
When Manio's water broke and she went into labour eight days early in the wee hours of Jan. 1, she and her husband arrived at St. Paul's maternity ward to find it already full. "We arrived with all our bags, ready to check in. There was a queue of three ladies long," said Manio.
Her midwife met the couple and told them it was a busy night, and they might have to go elsewhere. Women's Hospital was also full of labouring women. The next closest hospital was Lions Gate. "We'd never been there," said Manio. "We didn't even know how to get there."
But with contractions coming about three minutes apart, she had other business to attend to. After being deemed safe to make the trip, Manio and her husband got back in their car and zoomed over to the North Shore around 5:30 a.m., where staff on the maternity ward was waiting.
The diversion turned out to be a blessing, said Manio. The couple had the entire labour and delivery ward to themselves. "We had amazing staff," she said. "They supported and coached me through it all."
Parker Nathaniel Soliven Manio made his debut at 3:46 p.m. New Year's Day, weighing in at 7 lbs. 2 oz.
Not to be outdone, another local couple are the proud parents of the North Shore’s first set of twins, who arrived a day later on Jan. 2 via a planned C-section birth.
New father Cary Dicerni said twin boys Carlo Dimitri Dicerni and Marco Douglas Dicerni were born at Lions Gate Hospital weighing a very respectable 6 lbs 5 oz and 6 lbs 3 oz at 38 weeks gestation.
Dicerni said the twins were conceived naturally and the couple were initially shocked to find out they were going to be first-time parents to two babies.
Dicerni said his wife Corlyn Dicerni and the boys are all doing well. “They are fantastic,” he said. “They’re happy.”
