The very first baby born in 2018 in New York City was identified as Ariana, born in Flushing, Queens, at 12:01 a.m.
A spokesman for the hospital, Dr. Andrew Rubin, said the mom and child are doing fine, the Daily News reported.
“It’s an absolute thrill to have the honor of being the hospital where the first baby of the new year is born,” he said. “It’s the second year in a row for the hospital.”
The family, however, said that the pregnancy was fraught with difficulty. Ariana stopped growing more than a week before her Jan. 10 due date. Her labor also lasted 30 hours.
“This is my miracle baby. This is my blessed baby,” said Nazir, who is a taxi driver and student at York College. He’s originally from Bangladesh. “Praise the Almighty. I cried [when I first saw her] … I saw her little fingers, I felt very happy.”
“She was in so much pain she told me, ‘I am going to die. I can’t tolerate the pain. Forgive me,’” Nazir told the newspaper about the delivery. “She was so tired because it had been almost 30 hours. She didn’t sleep, she did not eat. She lost her voice.”
Nazir said that they celebrated with the staff after the birth.
“It was a big celebration. Not only the doctors and nurses shouting but all the staff, they came, we clapped. We all celebrated … we felt so amazed. We felt special,” Nazir said.
“I was crying but I’m so happy now,” said the mother. “I’m feeling very excited for my first baby, my New Year’s baby,” Shirin added.
It comes hours after a Guam couple welcomed the first baby in the United States in 2018.
And in Auckland, New Zealand, a couple is believed to have given birth to the first baby born 2018—named Rex.
Auckland is the first major city in the world to celebrate the New Year. It doesn’t appear that there were any babies born on Samoa, Tonga, Kiritimati, or on any other Pacific islands. Meanwhile, there have been no reports so far of any other babies born in New Zealand before Rex.
Ena and Chien Lu, both 32, the parents, were beaming.
“Everyone was saying that there was a good chance that he was the first but we don’t know for sure, yet,” Ena told the news website.
“It’s a bit surreal. When he came out it was just magical,” she added. “He’s actually a really good baby, when he came out he was really loud, but once I fed him he went to sleep and now he’s been asleep for four hours. So I got some decent sleep.”
