By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY – As usual, a labor and delivery nurse at Rowan Regional Medical Center helped deliver the first baby of the new year.
But this time, the baby was the nurse’s own.
Carrie Williams laughed when hospital coworkers suggested she might have the first baby of 2012 when she left work at 7 a.m. New Year’s Day after working the night shift.
Williams wasn’t due until Jan. 23. She went home to bed and slept well, waking at 2 p.m. to watch the Carolina Panthers game with her husband, Christopher Williams.
But at 2:30 p.m. Williams’ water broke.
Although she’s been a registered nurse since 2008 and has worked in labor and delivery for two years, the start of labor surprised this first-time mom.
“I didn’t know what it felt like to have your water break,” she said.
Maci Grace Williams arrived at 11:28 p.m., about three weeks early and just in time to be declared Rowan County’s first baby of the year. She weighs six pounds, three ounces and measures 19 inches long with a thick shock of blonde hair.
“She’s perfect,” Williams said.
Williams said she has received excellent care at Rowan Regional.
“One of the reasons I chose to deliver here is that I trust everybody I work with with everything I’ve got,” she said. “The doctors, the nurses, everyone.”
Dr. Jessica Blumenthal of Carolina Women’s Health Associates brought Maci into the world. The baby is breastfeeding well, Williams said, thanks to help from lactation consultant Connie Hoffner.
Like many premature babies, Maci developed jaundice and stayed in the hospital for an extra day of phototherapy to lower her bilirubin level, Williams said. The family was scheduled to go home today.
Christopher Williams, a 2002 graduate of East Rowan High School and team leader at Schult Homes in Rockwell, chose the name Maci. Carrie Williams, who graduated from West Rowan High School in 2006, said she has always liked the name Grace.
As infants, Christopher had thin blonde hair, while Carrie had thick black hair. So Maci already takes after both parents.
The new mom and dad received a gift bag full of health items and other goodies from Rowan Regional.
Williams said she will be a better nurse, having had a baby herself.
“I know what I tell people and what I teach them, but to do it myself, it’s completely different,” she said. “Now I will help them from experience.”
When she returns to work in labor and delivery in 12 weeks, Williams said she will have lots to share with other new moms.
Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.