Special delivery for local mom

Doctors at Strong Memorial Hospital made five special deliveries Christmas Day. Nevaeh McCloud was one of them.

“She was determined to be a Christmas baby,” said Tiffany McCloud.

Tiffany was not expecting Nevaeh to be born for another three weeks.

“She was a surprise,” she said, “but she was a great surprise and a nice Christmas gift.”

The four pound, 15 ounce baby girl was ready to come, even before Santa Claus had a chance to deliver all his gifts.

“I was in labor from about 2 o’clock (Monday afternoon) until midnight, and then they had to do an emergency c-section for her.”

Doctors had to get Nevaeh out quickly. She had wrapped her umbilical cord around her hand and squeezed it, so she could not breathe. Nevaeh finally came out at 12:57 Tuesday morning, and she was healthy, but had a small case of the hiccups later in the day.

Ironically, it was Christmas day – the day many people celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. And Tiffany named her baby girl Nevaeh. That is heaven spelled backwards.

“I definitely didn't plan for her to come on Christmas when I decided to name her that, so it kind of makes you wonder,” Tiffany said. “There's no gift like this. She's a wonderful gift.”