Port Alberni’s first baby of 2021 arrived a few days late at West Coast General Hospital.

Sophie Agnes Bremner was born on Jan. 5, 2021 at 8:33 p.m. to Arianne Lacaille and Scott Bremner, weighing eight pounds and six ounces. Her due date was originally Dec. 31, but she didn’t arrive until Jan. 5.

“She was five days late, but that’s okay,” said mother Arianne Lacaille from West Coast General Hospital on Jan. 7. “The delivery went really good. She was quicker than when I had my first, so it went a little bit better.”

Lacaille has one other child—Katie Bremner, 3—who is reportedly excited to meet her little sister.

“Things were a little different with COVID,” said Lacaille. “But we did have some good service from our nurses, so we really appreciated that.”

RELATED: Expectant B.C. mom dodges branches, elk and an empty gas tank to deliver New Year’s baby

She was “definitely surprised” to hear that Sophie was the first baby of the year born at West Coast General Hospital, she said. The baby’s gender was also a surprise, Lacaille added.

“We didn’t really know the gender because it didn’t show up on the ultrasound,” she explained. “We were picking and choosing names just in case. The day that Sophie was born, the name just came to me. We were looking down at her and I thought she definitely looks like a Sophie.”

Her middle name, Agnes, is a nod to father Scott Bremner’s late grandmother.

“So we have a little bit of a memory in there,” said Lacaille.

Mother and baby were able to head home from the hospital on Jan. 7.

“I’m doing good, and baby is doing really well,” said Lacaille. “She’s fairly calm, which is nice.”

B.C.’s first baby of the New Year was born just 21 minutes after midnight at Women’s Hospital in Vancouver, while Vancouver Island’s first baby of 2021 was born just before 2 a.m. in Nanaimo on New Year’s Day.

---

elena.rardon@albernivalleynews.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter

Alberni Valley News