NATCHEZ — When Bridgett Thompson went to Natchez Regional Medical Center to pre-register for labor and delivery, she didn’t expect to stay there very long.

Thompson went into the hospital at 2:30 p.m. to file some basic paperwork ahead of time, but by 1:09 a.m. Saturday she had delivered 6-pound 15-ounce Christian Brayden Thompson, the first baby of the year at Natchez Regional.

“I asked (the doctor) to check me because my doctor was on vacation and I haven’t been seeing him,” Thompson said. “I was already dilated and having contractions every four minutes.”

This wasn’t exactly what she had planned. The baby wasn’t due for another 11 days, and her husband, Michael, was in South Korea working offshore.

The family had planned his work schedule to coincide with Christian’s projected due date.

“(Michael) was upset he couldn’t make it, but he was a proud daddy,” Thompson said. “He got to see a picture before he got on a plane to come over here.”

There were other practical issues that suddenly needed to be taken care of at home with the unexpected arrival of the baby.

“I have no baby bed or crib set up or anything,” Thompson said. “His dad was going to do that when he got home — so my family is doing it now.”

The mother of two children — Nathaniel, 6, and Lauren, 13 months — Thompson has no less love for the newest addition to the family.

“He’s precious,” she said. “He’s third — the caboose.”

And the other children were excited about having another sibling.

“Nathaniel wanted a little brother,” Thompson said.

While they waited for Michael to arrive back in the United States, Thompson’s friend Kaci Cothern kept her and Christian company Saturday afternoon.

“I think he’s a beautiful baby,” Cothern said.

Christian is the first of the Thompson children to look like Bridgette, Cothern said, a statement with which Bridgett agreed.

“Michael got the first two, but Christian’s mine.”