Laken MastersOf course, the birth of every little baby who enters this world is special, but the birth of this Kentucky baba is certainly one for the history books.
Charlee Rose Masters was born on February 2, 2020, at 20:02 in St Joseph East Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky.
Her birth fell on an extremely rare global palindrome day, which means the date and time of her birthday is the same both forwards and backwards. That particular moment in time was the first palindrome date in 909 years, since November 11, 1111.
Laken MastersUnderstandably, the date was the last thing new mum Laken Masters was thinking about, and she had no idea it had fallen on the exact right time on the rare day until long after the birth.
Laken told Good Morning America she had expected her baby to arrive on Monday or Tuesday, so when her contractions began on Saturday afternoon, she was a mixture of both surprised and anxious.
The new mum said:
I didn’t really think about [the date] and then all the nurses that were in the room said, ‘Oh, this is so cool… it’s better than a New Year’s baby.’
She said her own mum, Dee Dee Calvert, was the first to notice that Laken could have the baby at 20:02pm.
Laken MastersLaken explained:
I don’t know the conversation that was going on in the room. I don’t remember anybody else talking about anything. I just remember my mom, Dee Dee, saying take a picture of the clock.
Laken was joined by her family, her best friend and a group of nurses who helped deliver little Charlee Rose. What’s more, the nurse said she pushed for 20 minutes before the baby made an appearance.
Nancy Shirey, who has worked as a midwife at the hospital for 20 years, said:
First-time moms usually have to push for a couple hours, but [Laken] only pushed for about 20 minutes.
Laken MastersBaby Charlee, who was born happy and healthy, was named after her late great-grandfather and late great-aunt.
Laken said:
We were just over the moon, excited and ready for the baby. We certainly weren’t expecting to have her on Sunday, but we are just so happy.
Congrats on the birth of your beautiful baby girl, Laken.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.