Sarah Coffey and Joe Elliott expected their first child would make an appearance into the world well before Christmas Day, instead they got Prince George's new year's baby of 2014.
Catherine Clair Elliott-Coffey was born at 5:03 a.m. on Wednesday morning at the University Hospital of Northern B.C., 13 days after the expectant parents anticipated her arrival. She was the first baby born this year in Prince George and the first in all of Northern Health's region.
"It definitely makes it special," Coffey said. "We're going to have a great birth story to tell her and it will always be a party on her birthday."
Elliott said he and his wife were surprised their were still in the running for a new year's baby five hours after the clock struck midnight.
"It was an even bigger surprise when we found out it was northern B.C.'s [new year's baby] as well," he said.
Another surprise was baby Catherine's gender. Elliott convinced his wife that they should take a traditional approach when it came to finding out if they were expecting a girl or a boy. Both parents are thrilled to have a daughter, but not knowing which gender was coming combined with her late arrival made shopping a challenge.
"All of the sales at Boxing Day with all the boys' and girls' clothes, [my wife] couldn't buy any of it," Elliott said with a laugh.
"All the 'baby's first Christmas' stuff went back," Coffey added with a smile. "We had a good collection of that."
Catherine, who weighed in at eight pounds and six ounces and was 23 inches long at birth, was named after her father's Scottish grandmother.
"I'm a very proud parent of a Scottish-Canadian girl," Elliott said.
One thing the proud parents can't quite agree on is the colour of the newborn's hair. Elliott is convinced his daughter is a redhead, while Coffey thinks her baby girl has strawberry blonde locks.
Eleven hours after Catherine was born the new parents reflected on their eventful and thrilling New Year's Day.
"It's been fantastic," she said. "The hospital staff has been all great, everyone has been so helpful and so kind."
The first baby born in the province was a boy in Victoria only one minute after midnight. He beat out a baby born in Vancouver by just one minute.
