Cierra Moody was pretty blasé about being the center of attention Tuesday, giving an occasional yawn as cameras pointed at her and lights flashed. In fact, she slept through the whole thing.
Cierra Moody is the first baby born on St. Croix in 2011, but it was an on-again, off-again and then definitely on-again affair. Her mother, Natasha Moody, had been given a Jan. 11 due date.
Saturday night Cierra’s older brother had a small accident and had to be taken to the emergency room by aunt Anissa Moody. They were in the emergency room when the phone rang: Natasha’s water had broken and they were coming to the hospital.
On arriving at Juan F. Luis Hospital, Natasha was told that the baby had moved down into position for delivery. But then, Natasha said, Cierra “changed her mind" and moved back up in the womb.
However, because the placenta that holds the amniotic fluid had already broken, doctors couldn’t wait, and a caesarean section was immediately planned.
Three hours after Natasha arrived at the hospital, Cierra was born, a healthy 8 pounds, 11 ounces, with a thick head of black hair.
At the hospital Tuesday, Cierra still didn’t have a middle name. Her mother was leaning towards Raven, but Aunt Anissa was fond of Layla. (Reporter’s note: No one gave me a vote, but "Layla" has always been one of my favorite rock songs.)
The date has special resonance for the family. Jan. 2 is the birthday of Cierra’s grandfather, Leonard Moody, a longtime city planner on St. Thomas who died in 1984.
Natasha said the two sharing a birthday is very special, and she hopes her youngest daughter inherits Leonard’s sense of humor.
"He was always laughing and reading you something," Natasha recalled.
According to Anissa, one member of the family who was overjoyed with Cierra’s arrival is 9-year-old big sister Mia, who already has two older brothers and who called the birth of a sister "a dream come true."
Natasha and Anissa were both born in the Virgin Islands – Natasha on St. Croix and Anissa on St. Thomas – but left the territory 20 years ago when their mother moved them to Atlanta for high school and college.
Natasha’s older children were all born in the states, but she moved back to St. Croix last year for the birth of Cierra, and Anissa came to visit from her home in New York to help her sister with what Natasha called "a long and difficult pregnancy.”
Natasha had put on an unusual amount of weight, she said, and people kept telling her, "Oh, you’re going to have a boy, it’s a big boy."
But she always kind of thought it might be a girl, and she got confirmation three months ago from an unusual source. Natasha works in a law office and is studying to become a paralegal. One of her co-workers, former and soon-to-be current Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen also worked there, and one day gave her a long look.
"It’s going to be a girl, with a lot of hair, and she’s healthy," Natasha said Hansen told her. Right on all three counts.
As the hospital’s first baby of the year, Cierra received a small mountain of gifts from the Patient Advocacy office. Included in the package were disposable diapers, bottles, clothes and a host of other baby needs.
Also in the package was a gift donated by the Zeta Phi Beta sorority – a combination infant car seat, stroller and baby carrier. So Cierra will be going home in style.
But Williana Doctrine, the hospital’s patent advocate, also had a few presents last week for the last baby born in the hospital in 2010. That child had been born Friday evening, New Year’s Eve, and Doctrine saw no reason to penalize him for being in a hurry.
