Early delivery

It didn't take long for the arrival of Nova Scotia's first baby of 2022.

Roman Dube was born three minutes past midnight on Jan. 1 at the Valley Regional Hospital.

The eight-pound, fiveounce baby boy is the new son of proud parents Angela and Brandon Dube, of Lockhartville, a small Kings County community located about halfway between Windsor and Wolfville.

The arrival of Roman, who measured in at 52.5-cm long, was one minute before the delivery time of the previous year's first Nova Scotia baby. Claire McIntyre and Tyler Voeltz welcomed their baby daughter at 12:04 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2021 at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax.

A young couple from Big Bras d'Or are the proud parents of Cape Breton's first baby of 2022.

Xavier Matthew MacDonald was born at 8:10 a.m. on Jan. 1 at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney to Allison Hartigan and Brett MacDonald. The sevenpound, 14-ounce baby boy is the couple's first child.

“I didn't know I was labouring until I woke up at about 5 a.m. and once I got to the hospital I was already six centimetres dilated,” said the new mother, who added that the baby is healthy and doing well.

“My labour was very easy. I only pushed for 15 minutes. And then we were home the next day. I woke up feeling like a different person. I am a mother and it's awesome.”

The only downside of the timing of Xavier's arrival is that he was born in the midst of a heightened stage of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. And that means no visitors for two weeks.

In 2021, Cape Breton's first baby did not arrive until Jan. 2. when Theodore (Teddy) John Seesahai was delivered at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital at 26 minutes past midnight to parents Katie (nee McIntyre) and Michael Seesahai. Ironically, Katie was the first baby born at the New Waterford Consolidated Hospital in 1987.

Meanwhile, it appears the first baby to be born in Canada this year was delivered at 12:01 a.m. on New Year's Day at the London Health Sciences Centre in southwestern Ontario. The six-pound, eight-ounce Niall was born to Christine Elgar and Ben Monis.

In California, a set of twins were born on a different day, a different month and a different year. Alfredo

Trujillo was first to arrive as he was delivered at 11:45 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2021. His sister Aylin Trujillo was born on the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 2022.

Meet Xavier Matthew MacDonald, the first baby born in Cape Breton. Showing off their new bundle of joy are parents Brett MacDonald and Allison Hartigan of Big Bras d’Or.