They’ll be the oldest kids in their class at school, but they won’t start attending until 2023.
They’ll be the first of their peers able to take a driver’s test – in 2035. And in 2038, they’ll be able to legally purchase alcohol before their friends.
They’re Canada’s New Year’s babies, and if author Malcolm Gladwell is to be believed, they’ll have a leg up on other kids their age for the rest of their lives.
Join us for a look at some of the first babies born in 2019 in select Canadian cities. All times are local.
Toronto
Most Toronto residents may well have still been uttering their first “Happy New Year” when their city’s first baby of 2019 was born.
Fatima al-Ameri was born eight seconds into the new year at Scarborough General Hospital.
“I was very excited and at the same time very surprised,” mother Dina al-Ameri told CTV Toronto.
The al-Ameris – Dina, father Mohammed and their 14-month-old son – had arrived at the hospital only two hours earlier and did not expect their first daughter to come into the world so quickly.
Meet Fatima, #Toronto's first 2019 baby, born at the stroke of midnight at SHN's General hospital! #WeAreSHN #ScarbTO https://t.co/AwC1OZyi4l pic.twitter.com/xXHf8VEbyZ
— Scarborough Health Network Foundation (@SHNFoundation) January 2, 2019
Montreal
Olimpia and Martin Lachaine didn’t mind spending New Year’s Eve in the maternity ward at Royal Victoria Hospital. In a way, they had been hoping for it.
They thought there would be something special about having a Dec. 31 baby. After all, their child would always be able to associate their birthday with partying and fun.
Jan. 1, they figured, wouldn’t be as nice a birthday.
“People are all at home, partied out, they don’t really feel like doing anything,” Martin told CTV Montreal.
But as the countdown to midnight drew closer, the Lachaines realized they might have to face an uncomfortable truth.
“We were pushing ‘Let’s do it before’ … but then the clock turned, and we were like ‘Oh, no!’” Martin said.
By the time Mariella Lachaine was born at 12:02 a.m., her parents had rethought their opposition to a New Year’s baby.
“It’ll be a double party now – two nights in a row,” Olimpia said.
Ottawa
A few surprises greeted the parents of the first baby born this year in the national capital city.
Sandra and Gregory Sabourin thought their child would come into the world on a holiday – but they expected it to be Christmas, given Sandra’s Dec. 25 due date.
They also thought Sandra was having a boy, and didn’t realize any differently until a seven-pound, one-ounce Olivia Margaret Sabourin emerged from the womb at 12:47 a.m.
“She’s our first baby, so it’s super-special no matter what,” Sandra told CTV Ottawa.
Calgary
The luck of the Irish may have helped Aryia Dockrell become the first Albertan to be born in 2019.
Arriving into the world one minute after midnight, Dockrell weighed a little more than seven pounds at birth.
Her parents, immigrants from Ireland awaiting permanent residency, had arrived at the hospital 14 hours before Aryia’s birth.
“We didn’t think she would take that long, but she just wanted to be born at midnight,” mother Shauna McIntyre-Dockrell told CTV Calgary.
McIntyre-Dockrell said she and her husband Martin Dockrell hadn’t realized their daughter’s birth came after midnight until nurses came in with celebratory beverages.
“She’ll have fireworks every year on her birthday,” McIntyre-Dockrell said.
Edmonton
Tia Alona Bocauto was born at 12:08 a.m. at the Royal Alexandra Hospital’s Lois Hole Hospital for Women.
Delivered three weeks early, Tia came into the world having a lush head of hair and weighing five pounds and seven ounces.
Mother Mila, 43, said she was happy to welcome her first child into the world.
“She’s been good. She’s not crying too much,” she told CTV Edmonton.
Saskatoon
It took almost two hours, but it was well worth the wait.
Ayla Juliette Mann was born at Royal University Hospital at 1:55 a.m., making her the first child born in Saskatoon in 2019.
Her older brother Emery is also a Jan. 1 baby, although he was only the second child to be born in Saskatoon on that day in 2017.
Saskatchewan’s capital had to wait even longer for its first baby of the year. Conor Damon Buchanan was born in Regina at 4:40 a.m.
New Westminster, B.C.
Unlike the other babies featured in this article, Dominik Soswa was born right on his due date.
Arriving into the world one minute after midnight, Dominik was the first child born anywhere in B.C. in 2019.
Maternity nurses at Royal Columbian Hospital marked the special birth by presenting his parents with a gift basket full of onesies, blankets, coffee mugs and other items.
“I didn’t know that it was a big thing,” mother Janet Shimizu told CTV Vancouver.
BC Lotteries took bets on which hospital would welcome the province’s first baby of the year. Royal Columbian Hospital was listed at odds of 9:1.
Gatineau, Que.
Many of the babies in this roundup are their parents’ first children, but Jade Lucie Morrissette is anything but.
She came into the world at 4:16 a.m. weighing eight pounds and nine ounces, and already having four older sisters and one older brother.
“This is going to be our last baby,” mother Josee Millette told CTV Ottawa.
Meet Jade Lucie. she is Gatineau’s New Years Baby! Born 4am, weighing 8lbs 9oz. Mom, baby doing well. @ctvottawa pic.twitter.com/k9X4OztFfs
— LeahLarocque (@LeahCTV) January 1, 2019
With files and reports from CTV Toronto, CTV Montreal, CTV Ottawa's Leah Larocque, CTV Saskatoon, CTV Regina, CTV Calgary's Brad MacLeod, CTV Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson and CTV Vancouver's Penny Daflos
