Jan. 2, 2009 — When Jacqueline Vante leaves Roy Lester Schneider Medical Center on Sunday, she will be taking home her newborn son, Jacob Andrew Vante, the first baby born on the island for the new year — and a whole bunch of memories that she says she can’t wait to share with him.
"I’m going to make sure he knows he was the first baby of 2009," Vante said Friday. "It’s going to be exciting showing him everything that’s being written about him and all the pictures that have been taken. I can’t wait to show him how special he is."
Vante looked happy cradling baby Jacob in her arms Friday morning, but she said getting to that point was more difficult than she imagined.
"I came in on Dec. 31 at 7 a.m., and spent all day trying to have the baby," she said. "It went into the night and they did an induction, but by the morning nothing was happening and the baby was getting a little stressed as the contractions kept coming. I spoke to the doctor and the she said the best thing to do was to go and have a C-section… and Jacob was born moments after that, happy, healthy and smiling."
The baby was still smiling as nurses brought him into Vante’s hospital room Friday, wrapped in a blanket. He also responded to the flash of the camera as his picture was taken. Though he did not open his eyes, Jacob Andrew Vante lifted up his head and arms while his mom laughed.
"He felt that," she said.
Vante has one other child, a 21-year-old daughter named Dannette.
"She just moved to California," Vante said of her first-born. "I was born and raised here, but I spent most of my adult life in the States, and about five years ago, we moved back when my daughter said she wanted to spend her senior year of high school here, going to my alma mater. It’s a tradition – my mother went there, and so did I, so she said she wanted to go to Sts. Peter and Paul too. Once I got back here, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else, so we stayed."
The second pregnancy was unexpected, Vante said.
"But I’m so happy about it — we see it as a gift from God," Vante said. "I had wanted to have another child, but I didn’t think it would happen so late. But everybody in our family is so excited, and we feel so blessed about receiving such a special gift."
Much like the New Year’s holiday she spent in the hospital, Vante said she plans to just rest and relax when she gets home.
"It’s been a wonderful experience for me," she said. "The hospital staff has been incredible — warm and caring, and they have taken such good care of me. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Now, I’m just excited about taking him home, and telling him all about his family and our history here. Jacob is a sixth-generation Virgin Islander, starting with my great, great grandfather, and I can’t wait to show him his home."
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