VENTURA : Baby, Slow to Make Arrival, Is 1st for 1994

After 23 hours of labor, Ventura resident Laura Patton gave birth early Sunday to Ventura County’s first baby of the new year.

Weighing 7 3/4 pounds, pink-faced George Eugene Patton was born a week late, at 12:30 a.m. at Ventura County Medical Center.

“We were ready for it,” his 36-year-old mother said. “We’ve been ready for a long time.”

Wearing a green-trimmed white knit cap, George snuggled in his mother’s arms, hiccuping quietly as Laura and her husband, Troy, 48, discussed the baby’s features.

“I don’t know where those ears came from,” said Laura, who works as a bank teller. “They look sort of like one of our cousin’s.”

Troy, a state parks maintenance worker, said the couple named their first child after a great uncle, who coincidentally has the same name as the World War II general.

“He’s a gruff old, rough old, ornery kind of person,” Troy said of the uncle. “But underneath he’s got a good heart.”

Troy said he was delighted with his son but had hoped he would be born in 1993.

“It would have been nice if he had come in December for tax purposes,” he said.

Laura said she’s glad her baby is a boy.

“They’re fun,” she said. “They like to go fishing and run and do grubby things.”

Laura said she was looking forward to resting after the long, difficult delivery.

“A nap sounds pretty good right now,” she said.

A cousin, Steve Lyle, said he remained at the hospital with the Pattons during the delivery.

“It was the first time I saw a lady in labor,” he said. “I now have no doubt that the female sex is the stronger one.”