Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys program, measures the snowpack at Phillips Station Wednesday, Dec. 30.
The first Carson City baby was born, nearly 19 hours after the city rang in the new year.
Isaiah James Poulin, the New Year’s baby, was born at 6:53 p.m. at Carson-Tahoe Regional Medical Center. His mother, Sara Sullivan, was in labor from 9:15 a.m. on Dec. 31 until the next night.
“We were actually surprised (that he was the New Year’s baby),” Sara said. “It’s funny because my due date was supposed to be Jan. 4 and everyone kept saying ‘you are going to have the New Year’s baby,’ and I guess they were right.”
“I couldn’t believe we were the first baby because it was so late (when he was born),” said Chris Poulin, Isaiah’s father.
The family received a gift basket from the hospital for being the first baby born in the new year, filled with all sorts of items the new parents would need including knitted beanies, bibs, books and a homemade photo album.
“It was all very nice of the hospital,” Chris said. “The service at the hospital has been phenomenal.”
Sara was in a race as the first baby contender with another woman, who allegedly was still in labor on Saturday. Chris said they were thinking of giving the other mother some of the items from their basket since she “put up a good fight too.”
Isaiah had to be born via C-section after all other methods to get him out failed, and Chris said it was a scary experience for both parents.
“She was just in labor for so long and it gets scary after a bit,” Chris said. “But we were holding each other and all of a sudden there is this little cry and it was amazing.”
The 8 pound, 2 ounce baby was born after nearly 33 hours of labor, with both mother and baby happy and healthy. Sara said they chose the name because she had liked the name Isaiah for a while, and decided to take Sara’s father’s name.
“It has been amazing,” Sara said. “It was the hardest and best thing I have ever done.”