Even though she was not due until Jan. 13, Barbra Boyd's friends had been telling her that her baby was coming as a Christmas present.
It seemed like the appropriate day to them.
Then, when Dec. 25 came and went, they gave the Maple Ridge woman New Year's Eve as her new due date.
They were far more accurate than her doctor, who was not only late on the date, but also for the delivery.
Barbra and her husband Blair were at home on Dec. 31 watching the New Year being counted down on television – a lame New Year's Eve by their outgoing standards.
She was texting "Happy New Year" with friends, and at about 20 after midnight told one: "I made it."
She did, but just.
Maple Ridge's New Year's baby was coming soon.
"An hour later I was on my way to the hospital," she said.
She got to Ridge Meadows Hospital at about 2 a.m., and everything happened fast.
"I like to proceed quickly," said Barbra.
"The doctor didn't even make it in time."
She and two nurses delivered daughter Avery, born at 4:21 a.m., weighing six pounds, two ounces.
She has one sister, six-year-old Kenzie.
"It was a bit more exciting New Year's than we expected," said Barbra.
Births on rise
Some interesting baby facts from the annual report from the B.C. Vital Statistics Agency:
• The most popular names for B.C. in 2011 were Liam and Emma.
• The next most popular names for boys were Ethan, Mason, Lucas and Benjamin.
• After Emma, girls were most often named Olivia, Sophia, Ava and Chloe.
• There were 43,991 births in B.C. in 2011, up from 43,670 in 2010.
• The most common age for B.C. mothers delivering in 2011 was 31.
• On a typical day in British Columbia in 2011, there were 121 births – 62 males, 59 females. Three babies were born to teenage mothers, while 28 babies were born to mothers aged 35 years old or more.
• The provincial population grew naturally by 12,215 in 2011, at a rate of 2.7 per thousand, not counting migration.
• On average, there were 60 marriages a day, and one marriage every 10 days was a teen couple.
• Life expectancy in B.C. is the highest in Canada at 82 years for the period from 2007-2011, up from 81.7 for 2006-10.
• The report also states the total number of deaths in B.C. in 2011
was 31,776, up from 31,151 in 2010.
• On average, 87 deaths occurred each day, 45 males, 42 females. Of those, 25 were due to cancer, three from pneumonia and influenza.
• The leading cause of death was cancer.
• The oldest person to die in British Columbia in 2011 lived to be 112.
• The number of HIV deaths continues to fall in B.C. In 2011, there were 59 HIV deaths, down from 253 in 1996.