Jan 02, 2013- 12:09 PM
Taylor Marian Neeb born 2:31 a.m.
Just nine minutes later, another baby was born at the hospital.
“It was a race to the finish,” the baby's father, Michael Neeb, said, speaking to Northern Life Jan. 2, as the family prepared to leave the hospital. “It was a little novelty thing, but it was fun.”
Neeb said he never expected Taylor to be the New Year's baby, as his wife, Melissa Marlin, was due Jan. 5. Their first child, two-year-old Parker, was also born 10 days late, he said.
“We thought (Taylor's birth) was going to be late,” Neeb said. “But sure enough, here we are.”
He said Taylor is a healthy baby, weighing eight pounds, seven ounces.
“Parker, for his (birth), we had to do a lot of walking around,” Neeb said. “That was the first birth for Melissa. But with this one, it went really smoothly. Everyone's healthy.”
Dr. Nathalie Slaney, who delivered Taylor, said it was kind of exciting to have two moms-to-be in labour on New Year's Eve.
“I think we're all very excited,” she said. “When the race was on, everybody kind of got into it. There was a little bit of friendly competition going on.”
Slaney said she was running between the two rooms, tending to both women for most of the evening. Because the births happened so close together, an obstetrician ended up delivering the No. 2 baby of 2013.
“There were side-by-side rooms,” she said. “Sometimes you'd hear sounds. We'd be like 'Oh, what's going on?' I'd run back and forth between the rooms.”
Slaney, who graduated from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in 2010, said Taylor's birth was special for her, as she'd also delivered the couple's first child when she was a resident.
Marlin managed to keep a smile on her face throughout the entire birthing process, she said.
“It was nice to see them again. It was a beautiful labour. (Marlin) was just a wonderful patient. They're a really nice family.”
Slaney, who has four grown children herself, said she told the couple after Taylor's birth that “the journey was just starting for them.”
