Christmas baby makes surprise appearance
A thump early Christmas morning woke Hardy native Melissa Helms from her sleep.
The thump wasn't Santa and his reindeer traversing across her grandmother's roof to deliver Christmas presents to her two children, 3-year-old Makenzie and 11-month-old Alexis. No, this thump came from her third child — a child who wasn't supposed to be born until February.
Instead, Helms gave birth to 4-pound, 5-ounce Hope Renae at Baxter Regional Medical Center at 12:16 p.m. on Christmas day.
"I was asleep when I woke up somewhere between 3 and 4 and I was dilating," Helms told The Bulletinfrom her hospital bed Sunday. "Before I knew it, I was having a baby."
Fortunately for Helms, she, her daughters and husband, Jared, were spending Christmas Eve night at her grandmother's house in Henderson. Ironically, Helms' grandmother, 62-year-old Ann Barnes, is also a Christmas baby. "She's really thrilled about this," Helms said. "She's been calling all day."
Helms said she and her husband planned to have Hope delivered at Baxter Regional Medical Center. She said he was in the room for the birth. "I think it was easier than my other two," Helms said. She said her new baby is doing fine, even though Hope came seven weeks early. As of late in the afternoon, Hope was still receiving oxygen from a machine, but her mother said she would be taken off it within a few hours.
The hospital stay for mother and daughter should be short. Helms is scheduled to go home today, and Hope is slated to leave the hospital Tuesday.
Makenzie and Alexis will have to wait until their mother comes home to open their gifts, Helms said. She said the two will have to settle for opening presents from their grandparents.
"I want to be there when they open their presents," Helms said. Having her baby on Christmas day is the best present she's gotten in a while, Helms said.
How does it feel having the first Christmas baby at Baxter Regional Medical Center for 2005?
"It sounds kind of strange, but it took a while for it to click in that this is Christmas," Helms said. "But I'm glad my baby has the same birthday as my grandmother."
What a nice story. Such a coincidence to have two babies in one family born on Christmas Day. Makes you wonder..