Amboy baby the first delivered in Lee County

DIXON - Layne Robert Sean Vannoy was in no hurry to see the world. After a false alarm on New Year's Eve, followed by 14 hours of real labor, Layne made his entrance at 6:39 p.m. Thursday, a healthy 7 pounds, 12 ounces. The doctors at KSB Hospital, and Layne's parents, Alyssa Jones and Anthony Vannoy, both of Amboy, thought he would be the very last baby born in 2008. "Everyone was saying he would come on New Year's, but I really wasn't expecting it," said Alyssa, 19. "It was a little bit of a surprise." "It was just really exciting," said Anthony, 26. "I didn't care when he came." Layne gave his parents a hectic New Year's Eve. Alyssa started to feel slight contractions Wednesday afternoon. She was taken to KSB and given a shot for the pain, and the contractions stopped, so she went home. Around 8 p.m., she woke up to some bone-crushing contractions, and made the trip back to KSB. After several hours, she was given medicine to speed things up. "It's been a rough 48 hours, but he's here now and that's all that matters," Alyssa said. Alyssa's mom, Kim Tooley, 39, of Amboy, had hoped Layne would arrive on her 40th birthday, on Jan. 19. "Instead, we got to ring in 2009 with him," she said with a laugh.