It took only a couple of hours for the first baby of 2023 to be born in Grande Prairie. The Vetter family welcomed their son Loui at 2:22 am on January 1st at the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital.
Karl Vetter says he and his wife Nancy knew early on there was a chance they could have a New Year’s Baby with Loui’s due date being January 1st.
“Then all the jokes started, ‘oh they are going to gift you a car if you are the first baby in Canada,’ and all that stuff,” Vetter says. “So we had an idea it was going to happen but then when we got to the hospital there was only one other woman in active labour. So the nurses started joking that it is a race, and apparently we won.”
The infant weighed just over 6 pounds and was just over 50 centimetres long when he was born. Mom and baby are doing well at home.
Vetter says he is grateful for everything the nursing staff did for his family during his wife’s labour and son’s birth, and knows that they give every family the same care and attention.
“They were so courteous and so nice with Nancy especially, showing everything that needs to be shown, helping and explaining, as well as sharing some personal experiences which help make her relax quite a fair bit. It was wonderful; it was very very special.”
Vetter adds he would like to thank the nursing staff, Dr. Manju, and Dr. Campbell for all their support and work delivering Loui.
Loui is Karl and Nancy’s first child and is also a first-generation Canadian as both of his parents are from Germany.
The first baby girl born this year at the hospital made her arrival at 10:06 a.m. on January 1st. Kiarah Storm Whitford-Horseman is daughter to proud parents Charles Horseman and Olivia Whitford.