First Callaway baby of the year born Jan. 6

Mandi Steele/FULTON SUN photo: Patrice Lawson of Fulton is seen holding her son, Timauri Derome Mack, born at 9:42 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6, making his mother the first to come forward with a Callaway County baby born in 2011.
Mandi Steele/FULTON SUN photo: Patrice Lawson of Fulton is seen holding her son, Timauri Derome Mack, born at 9:42 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6, making his mother the first to come forward with a Callaway County baby born in 2011.

Callaway's first new citizen of the year has made an appearance. Timauri Derome Mack was born at 9:42 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6, making his mother the first to come forward with a Callaway County baby born in 2011.

Timauri is his mother's first child, and she said it is a "joy" to have him.

"It's overwhelming," said Patrice Lawson, Timauri's mom, "at times I look at him and just want to cry all the time because this is mine, my little boy."

Lawson said she was in labor about 17 hours and gave birth at the Women's and Children's Hospital in Columbia. Timauri weighed in at 6.12 pounds and was 20.75 inches long. Lawson said she was born and raised in Fulton and is a 2008 graduate of Fulton High School. She's now an assisted living aide at Finck and Associates in Fulton.

Timauri's father is Timothy Mack, of Hayti, and works at Denny's in Kingdom City.

Lawson said she took her new son on his first outdoor trip on Monday since bringing him home from the hospital. They went to his doctor's appointment.

"He said he's a perfect baby," Lawson reported.

Although everything is fine now, Lawson said she had a scare about a month ago. She said when she was eight months pregnant she went to Callaway Community Hospital thinking she'd gone into early labor. The hospital sent her on to Columbia, because they didn't have neonatal facilities to care for a premature baby, Lawson said.

After getting her hooked up to the hospital's equipment, doctors told her she wasn't in real labor, but having Braxton Hicks contractions and she had the flu.

"He gave me a run for my money, but I would do it all over again if I had to," Lawson said.

She said she returned to the hospital in Columbia to have her baby when the time came, saying she felt comfortable there.

Lawson's nephew, Tequayveon Lawson, and his family lives with her. The 6-year-old said it was "fun" having a new baby in the house, but "Timauri cries too much."

Lawson said her nephew is having to share attentions with his grandma, Lawson's mother, for the first time.

Lawson said her mother, Vestamae Lawson, was "ecstatic" to hear Timauri was the first Callaway baby of the new year.

"He was my New Year's present, my Christmas present, a little bit of everything," Lawson said with a smile.