Just two minutes after the beginning of 2023, the first B.C. baby of the new year was born in Abbotsford.
On the Sunshine Coast, the first baby of the year would follow a few days later. On Jan. 3, Sechelt Hospital recorded its first birth of 2023 at 8:55 a.m., when parents Sophie Barbour and Graham Anderson of Gibsons welcomed their baby girl into the world. Faye Cody Anderson weighs six pounds, 10 ounces.
“It was a surprise to hear,” Barbour said of learning her daughter was the first baby born on the Sunshine Coast this year. “We thought after the 1st passed and she wasn’t here yet that we were out of the running.
“It’s really exciting. She feels like a famous baby,” Barbour said.
Older sister Eleanor (almost three years old herself) is excited to have a sibling.
“We’re really excited. We didn’t know whether it was going to be a boy or girl, but we’re happy to have another little girl,” Barbour said.
She also thanked the team at Sechelt Hospital, Vancouver Coastal Health and her midwife for the good birthing experience, after baby Anderson breached and a C-section was required. Now, they’re both doing well. Perhaps a sign of good things to come, the Sunshine Coast’s first baby of 2023 has been easygoing and sleeping well, her mom says.
“The New Year's baby symbolizes the start of the new year and represents the first of approximately 40,000 babies who are expected to be born in British Columbia in 2023,” the Ministry of Health said in a Dec. 30 media release.
In 2022, there were 37,801 babies born in B.C. between Jan. 1 and Dec. 8 — including 147 babies at Sechelt Hospital. The first Sunshine Coast baby of 2022 was Gurlove Singh Ghag, who later joined the tradition of turning on the holiday lights at Sechelt Hospital. Barbour says their family would love to have their own New Year baby take part too.
