First baby on hold

A wagon stuffed with baby goodies is waiting at Whitman Hospital and Medical Center for the first baby of the new year at the hospital.

“I have got a huge red radio flyer wagon just overfilled with goodies for this baby,” said Kristie Schindler, obstetrics director at WHMC.

The first baby of the year does not always come on the first day of the new year, and this year has proved no exception, with no babies born as of Tuesday afternoon.

Schindler told the Gazette that she had one woman due Jan. 2, but the mother delivered a few weeks early, adding that the first baby might not be here in the next few days.

“I don't have another mama due for a couple of weeks,” she said. “You never know! She could come in today!”

Schindler pulled records dating back to 2000, and she said that, “in the last 16 years, nine of the first babies have been born in the first week of the new year.” All the others have been born in the second week or beyond, with the latest first baby born Jan. 16, 2002.