Springville baby girl wins race

As far as the blessed events on New Year's Day can be tracked, Utah's first baby of the year was born just 10 seconds after midnight.

Victoria Soleiny Lacayo, the first child of Yolanda and Maurice Lacayo of Springville, arrived healthy, weighing 6 pounds, 8 ounces, at Orem's Timpanogos Regional hosptial.

About an hour later, at 1:14 a.m. Thursday, Casey Ronald Magnusson became the Salt Lake City-Ogden area's first baby born in 2004. The 6-pound, 6-ounce boy was born to Alexis and Lance Magnusson, of Logan, at Ogden's McKay-Dee Hospital.

Both babies were almost beaten to the punch. A woman gave birth at Salt Lake City's St. Mark's Hospital at 11:57 p.m. Wednesday. Three minutes later, and that baby would have been the hands-down winner.

The Magnussons didn't intentionally plan to deliver Casey on New Year's Day. In fact, already the parents of a 1-year-old boy, they didn't plan to have another baby so soon after the last one. And he wasn't due to be born for another month yet. But they are thrilled to have Casey join their family.

"We are definitely happy to have him," Alexis Magnusson said, adding that "it's awesome" to have the added distinction of New Year's baby.

The Lacayos also didn't specifically try to have a New Year's baby, though as the possibility became more real, they decided to aim for midnight.

Maurice Lacayo, the "excited, nervous" father who was born in Guatemala but has lived in the United States since he was 8, said Yolanda was due to deliver Victoria Jan. 11. As the date approached, Maurice said he started to wonder if the baby might come a little earlier.

Still, he never expected her to come just as Utahns rang in the new year. When Yolanda went into labor, Maurice thought the most he could hope for is 15 minutes before or after midnight.

"When we got around five minutes before midnight, we said, 'Let's go for it,'" he said.

Yolanda said the midnight delivery was unexpected and left her pretty tired — but mostly overwhelmed with happiness.

"Now I feel happy. I can't believe my baby was born in the middle of the night," she said. And as for being the state's first new mom of 2004, "I'm so excited. I can't believe it. I'm so happy," she said.

To celebrate Alexis and Casey's status as the area's first mom-and-son pair of 2004, McKay-Dee gave the family a diaper bag with some baby-care goodies inside, including baby formula and some reading material.