Having A New Year’s Baby
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 10 years ago since I had my youngest daughter. She was born 10 minutes after midnight and was the first baby born in the county. My daughter was “The New Year’s Baby.”
“Anna” (not her real name), wasn’t due for another two weeks. I was slightly surprised when I went for a routine appointment on December 30th. The routine appointment was all but routine and the midwife decided to schedule and inducement for the next day, December 31st.
I was slightly frazzled as I left the whirlwind appointment because it was a lot to digest: there had been problems and I was going to have a baby tomorrow. As if that wasn’t enough, I had to find child care for my 3 older children.  I remember the panic that set in as I discovered that most of my friends and relatives had already made plans to celebrate the New Year. Some were going out of town and out of state.
I finally ended up asking my aunt to watch my children, even though my cousin was close to her due date. She said yes, but incredibly, my cousin ended up going into labor on the 31st as well. My father and step mother cut short their vacation and came home to help with child care so my aunt could help my cousin with her labor. Note to self–NEVER have a child around a holiday again.
After a long labor, Anna arrived, and was greeted by us and the hospital staff. They were thrilled to have the New Year’s Baby at their hospital and we all celebrated the New Year and new life.  The next day, the newspaper and television crews arrived to interview us all. Anna was on TV and in the paper even before she was a day old!
I, of course, looked like a woman who had just had a baby.  I finally got my “15 minutes” of fame, and I was washed out and haggard looking! Oh well.
We still celebrate my daughter’s birthday much like we did that first year. Every New Year’s, we wait until 12:10 am and sing “happy birthday” to her. We have cake, ice cream, and sparkling grape juice….and then we go to bed.
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