When expectant mum Vanessa Ebanks-Riley started feeling stomach pains on New Year’s Eve, at first she was not convinced she was going into labour, but by the following morning, she and husband Shadrack Chad Riley were welcoming Cayman’s first baby of 2025.
The couple ushered in the new year with the birth of their son, Caxsian Phoenix Adam Riley, just days before his 6 Jan. due date.
“ I just wanted to [have a] December baby … but he came when he came,” Ebanks-Riley laughed, as she cuddled her son during an interview with the Cayman Compass following their hospital discharge.
He was delivered at 9:20am at the George Town Hospital, weighing a healthy 6 pounds, 10 ounces.
Ebanks-Riley and her husband said they while they knew Caxsian would be coming soon they had no idea he would arrive five days early.
In fact, the couple said they were initially enjoying New Year’s Eve at Ebanks-Riley’s mum’s home, but Caxsian had other plans.
“ But on [New Year’s Eve] in the nighttime, that’s when it got intense,” she said. “That’s when I was like, ‘Oh, this is the real deal,” and the couple returned to their South Church Street home.
She tried to get some sleep at home through the pain, but in the early morning hours, Ebanks-Riley said he heard his wife cry out and knew it was time to go.
They called their doctor and headed to the hospital.
Once there, the delivery took a couple of hours, but Riley said that everything seemed to happen very fast.
Ebanks-Riley said the hospital team was “amazing” and took great care of them.
“Honestly, [the maternity ward] staff made it such a pleasurable journey for the three days that we were there,” he said.
Ahead of the birth, the family members had different hopes for the sex of the baby.
Both mum and daughter Kailyn Smith, 12, wanted a little girl.
Riley, on the other hand, was hoping for a boy.
“ I have a daughter and my wife… a houseful of girls. I was like ‘I need a teammate … I prayed to God, ‘Please, bless me with a teammate,” he said, then added with a laugh that their next baby could be a girl.
Though Smith said she did not get a baby sister she is quite happy, especially since she came up with his unique name, saying, “I love my brother.”
Riley said it was “blissful” and a “different kind of joy” having a new baby despite the responsibilities and being “sleep deprived”, saying that having his first son being born on New Year’s Day makes it even more special.
“ Every year everyone will be celebrating his birthday, whether he likes it or not,” Ebanks-Riley added, laughing.
The Rileys say Smith also came up with a unique name for a girl which they will be saving for baby number three.
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