Williamsburg celebrated its first baby of the year on Wednesday — an 8-pound, 5-ounce little girl.
Vivian Emma Young Teeter entered the world at 12:42 p.m. on New Year’s Day at Sentara Williamsburg Regional Hospital.
“It was just a really cool way to kick off the new year,” mom Isabela Teeter said on welcoming her second daughter with husband Jacob.
Baby Vivian joined a handful of other new babies born on New Year’s Day in Hampton Roads, including twin girls born less than 45 minutes into the new year at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Brittany Herrien gave birth to twin girls, Everleigh Grace at 12:43 a.m. and Eden Vaughn at 12:44 a.m.
A short time later, at Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News, Ashleigh and Ishun Bryant welcomed a baby boy at 1:30 a.m. weighing in at 6 pounds, 6 ounces and measuring 19 inches long.
Calling her labor and delivery experience “quick and dramatic,” Isabela Teeter said she started having contractions the evening of New Year’s Eve. The contractions continued through the morning, until she knew she had to get to the hospital.
At one point, she thought she was going give birth in the car.
“It’s just like the movies,” she recalled with a laugh. “My husband speeding and pushing me in a wheelchair, screaming in the lobby, ‘Get me to labor and delivery!’ And we got here just in time because I was 10 centimeters and ready to push.”
Teeter delivered Vivian about 10 minutes after being admitted to a room, with her husband holding her hand the whole time.
Teeter said she and her husband originally thought their daughter would arrive for Christmas, but noted they were happy after realizing she would be born as a New Year’s baby.
“She’s always going to have the day off and she’s always going to have the opportunity to celebrate every year, and we’re excited to just make it a whole special day for her every year,” she said.
A military family, the Teeters are new to the Williamsburg area after moving in May. Both graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, they met while stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Jacob is a veteran after five years of service, while Isabela is stationed at Fort Eustis.
From her hospital room Thursday, Teeter said she plans on enjoying baby time at home while watching movies and “Grey’s Anatomy,” wanting to “soak it all in” after how fast it went by with her first daughter.
On what message she would like to leave her newborn, Teeter said she wants her to “embrace the world” in all of its experiences and challenges while remaining positive.
“I am just a very type of ‘take the experiences as they come kind of person.’ I want her to just be bubbly and spontaneous and headstrong,” Teeter said. “Just embrace life and all of its unique opportunities.”
Additional families joining the Teeters in celebrating New Year’s babies include Erin and John Hopkins, who welcomed their second daughter, Kamille Noelle Hopkins, at 1:13 a.m. on Jan. 1 at Chesapeake Regional Medical Center’s BirthPlace. Kamille weighed 6 pounds, 6.3 ounces and measured 19 inches long.
At Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, Taelyn Hunt arrived at 2:59 a.m. weighing 5 pounds, 7 ounces and measuring 19 ½ inches long.
Riverside’s first baby of the year honors, however, went to its hospital on the Eastern Shore, where Jasmin Bagwell and Cory Satchell welcomed their second son, Cyrus Satchell, born exactly at midnight. Cyrus weighed 6 pounds, 10.6 ounces and was 19.88 inches long.
James W. Robinson, 757-799-0621, [email protected]
