Easter Baby is Really an Easter Baby

Ironically she called her baby “bun” throughout her pregnancy. Whether the reference applied to what was “in the oven” as they say or the fact that her last name is Easter, it was nonetheless prophetic.

Olivia Easter, 21, of O’Fallon, gave birth to her own little bunny on Easter Sunday at SSM St. Joseph Hospital West in Lake Saint Louis. The seven-pound-four-ounce baby girl made her holiday debut at 9:46 a.m. just two days before her estimated due date.

Gianna Frances Easter gave first time mom Olivia a false alarm about two weeks ago. She was actually due Tuesday. And her mom would have been induced on Wednesday had she not arrived.  “She waited and waited,” Olivia said. “We kept saying if she comes on Easter she will be the Easter baby. It was kind of fun. We made bets on when she would come.”

Holiday birthdays are sort of in the family. Olivia’s cousin shares Gianna’s birthday (although she wasn’t born on Easter), and her brother, now 29, was born on Memorial Day.

Olivia’s mom, Winnie Jones—whose mother Frances shares Gianna’s name—was present for the birth of her first grandchild. She has four children of her own. “I am just ecstatic to be a first-time grandma,” she said. “Olivia is going to be a wonderful mom. I don’t doubt that a bit. She’s a natural.”

Jones said her son made a ham for Easter and brought it to the hospital so the family could share Easter dinner. “Her aunt and two uncles are just crazy about her,” Jones said, “all three of them.”

Olivia said she was a little concerned about the weather on the weekend before Gianna’s birth. “I thought, ‘This would be the perfect weather to go into labor in, with golf-ball sized hail and green skies.’ But she decided to wait a day.”

Jones said she doesn’t know what other surprises Gianna will bring. “She can do whatever she wants. The sky is the limit as long as she’s happy.”