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Expectant mom delivers Routt County’s first baby of 2014 after an evening at the lanes

Tom Ross
Tony and Camilla Haight proudly show off their newborn son, Paxton Ray Haight, a third-generation Steamboat Springs native who just might grow up to have an affinity for bowling.
Courtesy Photo





Tony and Camilla Haight proudly show off their newborn son, Paxton Ray Haight, a third-generation Steamboat Springs native who just might grow up to have an affinity for bowling.

— Expectant mothers who are within a few frames of their due date but more than ready to get it over with might try a gentle session of bowling. It did the trick for Camilla and Tony Haight, of Hayden, who are the proud parents of Routt County’s first baby of the new year.

Camilla gave birth to her first child, Paxton Ray Haight, at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs. Paxton arrived nine days before his due date, the morning after his mother rolled a 98 at the Snow Bowl lanes.

“We went bowling on New Year’s Eve and two hours later I went into labor,” Camilla (pronounced CAM-illa) told staff members at the hospital. “I started having contractions at 12:30 a.m.”



Tony Haight said he and his wife are not regular bowlers except on a Wii but were part of a family group that thought real bowling would provide a little diversion that would get everyone home in bed at a reasonable hour on the last night of 2013. They showed up at Snow Bowl at 9 p.m., well before the annual New Year’s Eve party was scheduled to begin.

“She actually beat me” in a line of bowling, Tony said. “I think she had one or two strikes and a couple spares.”



The proud papa said there were no clear signs that the visit to the bowling alley actually brought on contractions later that night. But Camilla’s elder brother, Elwood Chase, in town for only a few days, did have a premonition.

“When Camilla finished bowling she sat down and said her back was bothering her a little bit, but it was nothing like she said, ‘Oooh, this is it,’” Tony said.

On their way out of the bowling alley, her brother said, “I think we’re going to have a baby soon.”

The family paid a brief visit to the home of Camilla’s mother, Olga Chase, in Steamboat and said their goodbyes for the night.

“Camilla wanted to go home to be more comfortable, and it was snowing pretty good on the way (back to Hayden). We got home at 10:30 p.m. and went straight to bed,” Tony said.

When the first contractions awakened Camilla, her hospital bag already was packed and in the family vehicle.

The expectant couple drove back to Steamboat on icy U.S. Highway 40, stopped at Olga’s house to drop off the dog and left for YVMC as soon a contractions were timed at five minutes apart for an hour.

They checked in at 6 a.m. and after what Camilla described as “a really fast labor,” Dr. David Schaller helped deliver the couple’s son. Paxton Ray Haight weighed a healthy 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 20 inches long.

“We wanted to be surprised, so we didn’t know whether we were having a boy or a girl, but I had a feeling it would be a boy,” Camilla told hospital staff.

The couple chose Paxton’s middle name to honor Camilla’s late father, Ray L. Chase. His paternal grandparents are Greg and Gail Haight, of Steamboat Springs.

The new addition to the family is a third-generation Steamboat Springs native on the Haight side. Tony is a 2001 graduate of Steamboat Springs High School and Camilla also graduated from SSHS in 2002.

To reach Tom Ross, call 970-871-4205, email tross@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @ThomasSRoss1


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