Cape's first birth bypasses New Year's Day

Mark Ticer paid little attention to the gift basket celebrating the first baby of the new year in Cape Girardeau. He was too busy cradling the real gift, his newborn daughter, Haley, at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

Mark and Minyo Ticer of Cape Girardeau didn't give much thought to the idea that their daughter would be the first baby of 2002. Hospital staff gave the Ticers a gift basket full of flowers, a picture frame, a teddy bear and a handmade baby quilt.

Haley Minyo Ticer was born at 2:48 a.m. Wednesday, delivered by cesarean section. She weighed 9 pounds, 7 ounces, and measured 20.5 inches long.

Mark Ticer dismissed all the first-baby talk. "No matter what day they're born on, all babies are special," Ticer said.

The couple have two other children by other marriages: a 7-year-old son, Seth, and a 4-year-old daughter, Angel.

Seth skipped school to see his baby sister, wrapped tight in a white blanket with a pink stocking cap on her head.

"Cool," he said, eager to hold her. "She's beautiful."

Hospital officials weren't surprised the Ticers named their baby Haley. The name, spelled various ways, was the most popular name for girls featured in the B@bies Online section of the hospital over the past year.

No babies were born at Southeast Missouri Hospital or St. Francis Medical Center on New Year's Day.

It was the first time in more than a decade that no baby was born at Southeast Missouri Hospital. In 1997, eight New Year's Day babies were born at Southeast. St. Francis Medical Center resumed delivering babies in September after a 35-year hiatus.

Minyo Ticer said she would have been just as happy with a New Year's Eve baby. She came to the hospital on the morning of New Year's Eve after experiencing labor pains. But the pains subsided and she was sent home.

"We missed our tax deduction," joked Mark Ticer.

The Ticers spent an anxious New Year's Day. Minyo Ticer said they did some "walking, hoping, praying."

She returned to the hospital at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and labor was induced. Minyo Ticer said she went through about six hours of labor before her doctor decided to deliver the baby by cesarean section because contractions were slowing the baby's heart rate.

Minyo Ticer felt right at home at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She works there in the rehabilitation unit and for Dr.Deanna Siemer in Jackson, Mo. Mark Ticer works for Kluesner Concreters in Scott City, Mo.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123