Kiera Maeve Sherman was determined to be the first baby born on Whidbey Island in 2007.

So determined was she that she wouldn’t let her mom, Dierdre Sherman, leave the kitchen on New Year’s Day.

Sherman was scheduled to have the baby at the Greenbank Birthing Center under the watchful guidance of mid-wife Cynthia Jaffe.

At around 4:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 1 Sherman woke up from a short nap she had been taking after being up with some milder contractions.

Husband John Sherman, an emergency room doctor, was on duty at Whidbey General Hospital about a half-hour away from the Sherman’s Freeland home. Sherman had told her husband and Jaffe about the contractions earlier and said she would call back when they became more intense.

When she walked into the kitchen just before 5 a.m., though, the expectant mother had to sit down on the kitchen floor. She picked up the phone.

“It’s time!” Sherman said to everyone she called. She hung up the phone and realized that the baby would wait for no one and decided she just had to push.

“I was calm,” said Sherman. “I knew I had to push and I didn’t have time to worry.”

Ten minutes later Kiera Maeve was wrapped in her mother’s bathrobe as they rested on the kitchen floor.

Kiera’s 8-year-old brother Liam was awakened by so much silence and found his mother and new baby sister on the kitchen floor.

Even though Liam was a little scared his mother said he was very helpful getting her some towels and a drink of water while they waited for his dad and the midwife to arrive.

Jaffe arrived within 20 minutes of the birth and checked out mom and baby — who were fine — and delivered the afterbirth. Friends arrived and one had the honor of cutting the umbilical chord, though she was disappointed she missed the much anticipated birth.

When the father was called and told Kiera had already arrived before he could find a replacement at the hospital and get home, all he could muster was a dumbfounded, “Oh.”

Dad was certainly surprised by the track star timing of his second daughter, as was the rest of the family and friends who had all planned to meet at the birth center to partake in the celebration of Kiera’s welcome into the world.

That is, everyone except the Sherman’s second child, 4-year-old Tessa. When Tessa had finally made her way downstairs after a restful New Year’s Eve sleep into the ruckus of the Sherman family kitchen on New Year’s Day, she had this to say: “Too loud!”

Kiera Maeve Sherman has the grand honor of being the first baby born on Whidbey Island in 2007. She weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces and was 19 inches long. The Shermans have been residents of Freeland since moving here about two years ago.

Another Whidbey Island baby tried his best to beat Kiera to the first baby finish line but came up only hours short.

Carlos and Kara Figueroa welcomed their son, Andre Alberto Figueroa, at 7:50 p.m. Jan. 1 at Naval Hospital Oak Harbor. Andre weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces.

At the Sherman home, mother and baby Kiera are happy and healthy, working out the daily routine of naps and feedings.

One thing is certain for this family and the thing that will follow Kiera Maeve Sherman for the rest of her days; the excellent story of the island’s first baby who couldn’t wait.

Patricia Duff can be reached at 221-5300 or pduff@southwhidbeyrecord.com.